Future After Failed Realms
by The Illusion of Nothing
Summary: Maribel Hearn was born with the quirk that could see and touch the boundaries of existence. Now pressured into the life of a hero, she finds more than she hoped for. For better or worse. What mysteries clouded the past of this future? Touhou Near-Future/MHA AU. Currently: Sports Festival Arc
1. Chapter 1: Entrance Examination

Maribel Hearn stood shaking before the main building of U.A High, she felt a bit hopeless before it. Not only was it cold today, but she didn't feel ready for this. _Why am I becoming a hero? It sure isn't because I want to. Dad just said this was an opportunity, so did Renko._ Her eyes drifted to look at the ground, she straightened herself out and looked back at the building.

"Hmm..."

 _I'll make my own reason. I want to become better, and master my quirk. Maybe that will end those dreams once and for all._

* * *

When she finally got into her seat, Maribel felt like everyone's eyes fell on her. If it was because she wasn't actually Japanese or if it was the desire to succeed and enter the school, she couldn't quite tell. Everyone around her felt so different, their quirks so different. She couldn't quite analogize the sensation.

There was some babbling between students, one particularly loud boy that caught her eye. He looked like he was of high status, something she admired and envied. They were given a brief summary of the examination, first the physical and then the written one. The written portion was to see if they were just, their legal obligations in a very basic sense, a slightly difficult portion about certain laws regarding quirks and so forth. It was basic, but to pass as a hero you probably wanted a good physical score too, so this was only the first trial.

 _You think you understand it, but then they tell you that you don't. You feel like an idiot. I won't let them, not this once._

It wasn't all that difficult. She could clearly understand the questions, having studied quite a bit after she was accepted into the entrance exam. But she did not know the true answers, that was what she hated most with tests. When she finally turned it in, it turned out that the majority of the entrants had already finished their tests. Maribel felt inadequate, but thought to strive for greatness. She couldn't fail, not with her quirk.

Then she left the chamber and went down the halls of the building, heading towards the next place where they were supposed to gather. Bus stops were a necessity in large lands like this, U.A stretched far across the forest, and its buildings dotted the landscape. Among them was a large glass dome, reaching quite possibly a hundred meters or two into the sky while being more than thrice the diameter. But she couldn't distract herself with the beauty of modern architecture, she was taking a test.

"Alright kids! Get on board!" Present Mic shouted ecstatically at them, everyone got into their allocated bus. Maribel had been told to go with bus A. The trip wasn't all that interesting. It felt like she was spacing out from boredom, a strange reaction even to herself. Her true feeling was that of stress, could she really pass this? What humiliation would follow her if she didn't?

All she heard along the way was babbling from the would-be students. Even the teachers spoke on and on about what was going to happen.

"A-are you alright?" Someone asked her when they had finally gotten off of the field. She looked unusually distant today.

Maribel frowned, but replied calmly. Not even bothering to look at them. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. Leave me alone." And waved a certain freckled boy off.

* * *

The physical portion of the examination wasn't anything to scoff at. Present Mic's first move was not to announce that they were supposed to head into the arena immediately. Forcing Maribel to rush in with the rest, panicked. _They start it with a ruse!?_

But that was all she could think, before she could really react, a 3-points worth villain almost ran over her. Forced into combat, all she could do was activate her quirk. Boundary Manipulation had only revealed its true potential to her recently, and with it she could create fractures in reality that led to the place she perceived. By all means, it could perform similar feats to a rare warp quirk. So she went on with her assault, fueled with anger spurred from the hostility of the machine.

Her golden eyes turned an eerie purple and then moved to look at the ground. It approached right where she was going to attack. So the ground shattered like a window to reveal the blue sky above it, and the robot couldn't help but to fall right into it. It took but a second before she stopped focusing and made it all implode on itself. The robot was instantly destroyed, showered with its own parts. Wasting no time, Maribel continued on with her attack and repeated the same action on another robot that was about to attack someone. As it turns out, she had actually stolen that kill from three other combatants, and wasted no time turning around to shift her focus. Feeling just a tiny bit guilty.

"That'd be four points." She said to herself. _I better stick to the 3-point villains. With my quirk, they're as brittle as a 1-point one. And I'll always strike what's most vulnerable first._

* * *

The boundary girl fought hard. Specifically seeking out the highest point villains before they could be destroyed earned her a score of 60. A couple of her opponents were lower ranked faux villains, but only because they attack her first. Masses of robots just kept on coming out of nowhere, from buildings, from alleyways, it was like they were being made in a factory below them.

Her stamina was running low, and she was feeling sick. A drawback of using her quirk to create gaps. When she used it in repetition, she was quickly zapped of strength and felt nauseous. Right now, she was catching her breath by a wall along the street.

One 2-point faux villain strode out of an alleyway next to her. It was four-legged. The first assault almost caught her with a swipe of its tail, but she managed to duck on under. Hearn tried to create a gap in a boundary to catch it where it would walk, but this kind of robot was unpredictable to her and evaded it. _I'll need to bait it!_ She thought, stressed. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she shot away from it with a short leap, then another, and another. It followed in suit, Maribel deciphered how long its footsteps were, understanding its rhythm. With a glance of her ghostly eyes, she created a gap in the border that it fell through. A good half of it was sucked in by the gravity and stuck out above itself, as if it had broken a window in the sky. Maribel stopped focusing and destroyed it. All of the cracks healed themselves with the implosion of the gap, fixing both the sky and the ground.

 _62 points... That... That should be enough..._ Nausea took a hold of her, she wasn't going to walk very far in this condition. She'd been forced to be almost stationary for the last five opponents she had annihilated. Engines roared behind her as a simple 1-point villain burst through the wall next to her. There was no time to retaliate before it dunked her in the chest and sent her into the ground. "Guh-gnh!" Was all she could let out as she grunted in pain. But before she could even open her eyes, an explosion was heard and the robot was annihilated. After she finally managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening, she couldn't see anyone, which means they must've left as soon as they attack. She forced herself to sit up, resting next to the wall. In this state, there was nothing she could do.

 _I'll just have to hope those points are... Are..._ Maribel felt like puking and could only help herself by breathing heavily. Meanwhile, her eyes drifted to a new shadow that covered the city block. It was the largest of the bunch, a 0-point villai- _No, an obstacle. I couldn't envelop one with my gaps... No use in fighting it, I'll have to get out of here!_ Maribel then turned and tried to walk away, but her sickness prevented her from going into a full sprint. In this context, the faux villain was terrifying. Looking like it was peeking out from behind a set of bushes, if the bushes were buildings.

Due to her nausea, the boundary girl couldn't carry herself far and was forced to get down. That was when she saw a plain looking, freckled boy who ran opposite of the crowd. The next moment he flew a tiny bit too fast for her to see, followed by feeling a moment of power from him with her quirk. Gone as quickly as it came. The next moment came a sonic boom and the destruction of the 0-point villain. The display of power left Maribel a little shocked. Everyone around her scrambled to get out of the way, but someone who was almost right below the robot had decided to make use of some of the pieces to make herself float. _What the hell did he just do!?... He's going to fall. Well, if it's going to be my job-...!_

Hearn couldn't just stand and watch, but she didn't feel like he was close for her to focus. Thus, she couldn't deactivate her quirk just yet. The plain looking boy fell just outside the girl's range, and Maribel was forced to act. Sky shattered on a flat plane above the other girl, the boy fell through and 'bounced' up, eliminating lots of his momentum due to gravity. Finally, she'd have to hope that the girl could catch him.

The brunette merely touched him, causing him to float. She connected all ten of her fingers and then let him and her platform go, causing them to hit the ground. After that, he flew into the ground, softly. _I might not have much heroism, but at least I helped save someone..._

"Pfuh..." Maribel collapsed on her side, trying to contain her breakfast in her stomach. She really felt like she was going to die, even if that wasn't the case. All she could really do was pant for half a minute.

Before she could do anything else, Present Mic decided to announce something. " **TIME'S UP!** "

Suddenly, one of the would-be students approached her and outstretched his hand. "Are you alright?" He asked, it was the guy with glasses back at the written test. Now that she actually got to look, he was pretty muscular. She stared into his eyes for what felt like an eternity to her. "Hello?"

Hearn picked herself up with one hand and took his with her left. He helped pull her onto her feet. From that point on, she slowly began to feel better. "Wha-wha... Thanks. Haaa... I'm completely exhausted... Pfuh..." She said, nauseous all the while. After she recovered a little and stopped panting, she dizzily asked something. "Is that guy... alright? He punched that robot's head off..." Then noticing that she was still holding onto the guy's hand, she withdrew hers. Eh- ...H _ope he didn't notice._

He turned his head to look at the injured boy, deep in thought. In short order, the nurse arrived. "He looks like he might've broken his arm. I know that the nurse will heal him." The man assured and looked her in the eye. Stricken with a little bit of butterflies, she stopped looking at him with her quirk-possessed eyes. _I should tell him my name, make sure he can say it in a way that he can pronounce too._

When she looked back at him, her eyes had returned to a golden color. "M-my name's Maribel Hearn, but just call me Merry." She greeted him as nicely as she could.

"Tenya Iida."

After some chatter, the nurse got within arms reach. A kiss was all it took to heal the him. Maribel thought it looked creepy as his limbs twisted back into place. Since Hearn had made an effort in saving him, she thought about making her way over to him and the brunette. "Hope I'll see you later, Iida-san!" She waved a goodbye to Iida as she departed to her accomplice, stumbling as she did. _That didn't come out right, it sounds too heartfelt..._

"Who're you?" The brunette, clueless-looking girl asked her when she got within two meters of her.

Maribel raised her head and looked at her. "You know how he fell through that gap, right?"

She blinked and looked a bit like an idiot. Not that Maribel really thought that. "Huh? Yes?"

"That was my quirk. If I hadn't been there, he might've died." She explained seriously.

This made the girl particularly excited. "Oh? I've never seen someone with a quirk like yours, aren't those really rare?!"

"Yep! But I'm only telling you because you helped. Call me Merry." Maribel introduced herself in a psuedo-professional manner. On the inside, she felt like she was forcing it all a little. _I really hope I don't have to deal with something embarrassing like that with Renko ever again._

"My name's Ochaco Uraraka. You're pretty nice, I'm hoping we get into the same class. If we pass, that is..."

Maribel wasn't really keen on carrying someone like her, it felt like she'd have to commit more than she already does to friendship. But outward appearances are most of what matter, the only person she refused to play around with was Renko. "Ah, Me too."

* * *

All alone, she walked down the street. Without the vernal equinox, the sun went down early and showered her and the street with shadows. This street was abandoned, with closed down shops and old buildings from the last century. Population reduction had done a number tot his place.

Despite being in the potential grasp of villains, she felt especially alive today and especially when she got there. It wasn't enough to keep her here, and she did feel paranoid. So in order to make her journey home very short, she thought of using her quirk. Maribel turned around and eyed every corner of the street. There was nobody watching, nobody out. Her eyes briefly flashed purple and changed her iris into that same color. A deep breath cleared her mind, and with an especially chuuni hand signal, she opened a gap to her house.

"Pfhoo..." Hearn breathed, returning to a normal posture and then walking through. Nausea had kicked in, but it wasn't very intense. Guessing, Maribel thought the distance was closer to two or three kilometers. Impressive, considering the last time she performed anything close to that, she had created many gaps beforehand. She shrugged and stepped on through, immediately removing her focus from the shattered space warp to prevent anyone from following her.

So she stood alone in her room and began to take off her shoes.

 _I wonder how Renko is doing... I'll call her after I've rested a bit._ Maribel thought to herself.


	2. Chapter 2: A Strange Quirk

"That'll be all." A brunette wearing a black hat tied with a white ribbon sent the waitress away. The response was a simple bow before the waitress immediately left for the interior of the café.

It was a sunny but cold day. Typical of this time of year, early march. But spring was arriving early, the birds were singing, leaves had sprouted. A beautiful day. There were no clouds in the sky.

A small gust of air flew through the street.

 _It'll rain someday soon._ Renko Usami thought to herself as she raised her eyes from the passing crowd to heavens above. Then she turned her arm around a little, taking a look at her electronic wristwatch. It sat exactly at 12:45.

 _She'll be late, wouldn't be the first time._

Renko Usami had completed her entrance examination for just yesterday and thought that it was pretty easy. Maribel always told her how tests have answers that you think you know, but you don't. But it was no reason for her not to be confident, all the answers just came naturally. Unlike Maribel, who usually managed to get by on her tests by anything ranging from 70% - 90%, Renko had the tendency to come near perfect. Her studying technique was very good and so was her mind. With her quirk being based around information, she had always hypothesized that her quirk gave her a boost in memory and perhaps in learning. But she could never find the evidence she needed to prove it, quirks were so mysterious that you could never quite understand what they do. That is why a lot of quirks are described very shallowly. Some people had their entire lives dictated by their quirk, down to subconscious behavior. Some people went into hibernation, some people became murderous.

On that topic, she too wondered how it went for Maribel with her exam. That quirk of hers was far more potent than Renko's, with the right application she could crush any physical object. Renko had taught her that, actually. Despite being a little dull on the theoretical side of things, Hearn was always very creative in practice. One of the things Renko loved so much about her.

Another wind came by and flowed throughout what hair that wasn't stuck into her hat. Then, the wind came unimpeded by any hat. _What?_

"Helloooo~ Renko." Came the voice of Maribel Hearn, she was standing just behind her. Renko turned around and faced her just when the wind settled.

A friendly smile spread across her face. "You're always so stealthy. How do you walk so silently, really?" She asked, snickering all the while.

Maribel was always a little secretive about how she did things, but when talking to Renko she wasn't like that at all. "I just place my heel down first and roll on it to my next step. I'm not sure why, but maybe it just transfers the momentum in a more balanced way? If I'm carrying a bag, it won't sway as much."

Renko pondered on it for a few moments and brought a hand up to her chin. "Not really feeling it for calculations, but it sounds like you're not putting all of the energy into the ground at the same moment. That's the difference from a normal step." She explained, moving her palm to the table after Maribel just stood there for a bit. "Ah... You can take a seat, you know."

"Right, right." She said and moved over to the empty chair on the other end of the round, glass table.

Usami giggled a little as she held out a hand to her friend. "My hat."

"You make me feel so dumb, you know." The golden eyed beauty muttered with a stupid, embarrassed look on her face. She held the hat up before handing it over to Renko, who put it on.

"Anyway... Did you hero exam go well? The written portion couldn't have been that hard." The would-be physicist inquired. Her hair blew just a little in the wind, but her hat saved her from any trouble. It was so that her friend had her own hat, too. A white mobcap, reminiscent of old European ones. It had become a bit of a trendy item in first world countries these last few decades. _Of course, that's what she told me. I'm not much into fashion myself, even if I like to stylize my wear a little._

Maribel looked up at her and thought for a few moments, spacing about. "Hmm, I scored 62 points on the physical one. I'm not sure if my answers on the written ones were correct, but it really felt like I did fine."

The brunette raised her eyebrows for a moment and immediately blurted out what she thought. "What were you supposed to do during the physical exam anyway? Test your quirk on dummies, normal physical tests?"

"Huh? Well, we fought some robots who could fight back against us." Hearn replied after being caught a little off-guard.

Renko's eyes drifted to the sky. "That must've been dangerous. You're not hurt, are you?

"No, no. I'm not hurt." Maribel responded and waved at Renko as to dispel the notion. "You can't be a hero if you're helpless, no?"

"I guess that's true." The physicist smiled. "It's great that you're so confident now. If you weren't, I don't think you'd ever have gotten anywhere with your quirk." She gestured and pointed her index finger in Maribel's general direction.

Hearn exhaled and replied wholeheartedly, although with some embarrassment. "Don't pin all of that on me. You helped me out of that bad situation.."

Her friend waved a hand in Maribel's direction and sought to remove the praise of herself, thinking that she didn't deserve it. "It could have been anyone..."

A waiter came by with a tray, featuring a cup of coffee, tea and two biscuits. "I hope you'll enjoy it." She said and put it all on the table, the tea on Maribel's side and the coffee on Renko's side. They took one biscuit each. "Thank you." Renko said. The two girls bowed their heads as the waiter himself bowed, and then left, leaving the two to their conversation.

"As always, you know what I want." Maribel took a hold of her cup and held it for a couple of seconds. Renko knew this was to test how warm it was. "I'll let it cool for a bit." She concluded and put it back down. In the mean time, Usami had no problem starting on her cup of coffee.

They both smiled as their eyes wandered around the place. On the outskirts of the city, vegetation was pretty common, and with the sunlight of the day it had transformed the scene into a beautiful and calming visage.

"Hmm. Anyway! How are your dreams? No nightmares, right?" Renko started on a new topic, a personal one for Maribel. But staying true to herself, she wanted to see if she could help her friend with anything.

The hero examinee sighed. "The latest dream I had was pretty mysterious. But it wasn't ended by some monster or something strange. I was caught in a realm with a lot of doors that were just floating around. It was a very vivid experience. Though, now that I think about it, not once did I feel anxious. Also, I couldn't see any boundaries."

Renko balanced her chin on a finger and thought. "You couldn't see any boundaries? Huh... At least you weren't scared by anything. You still experience dreams like you usually do, but you don't have the bad ones." Then she adjusted her hat so she could see more. "But... Doors, huh? Did you go anywhere else in the dream?"

"No, just that place." Maribel scratched her cheek. "Well, what's good is that it never made me paranoid. I don't even remember how it ended." Finishing her introspection.

With a smile, the brunette took a sip of her coffee. "That's how good dreams usually go. You forget them a few moments after you wake up."

Hearn was a little clueless, but asked away. "So that might've been a 'normal' dream?"

"Maybe it is. Though, you still remembered it.."

Maribel nodded, she reached for her mug and held it. Feeling that it had cooled down a bit and took a sip. "Mhm. You know... Being a hero sounds kind of stressful." Renko gave her a glance, but didn't reply just yet as Maribel drank her tea again. Figuring that she hadn't said everything she has wanted yet. "Ah~... Also, I'm not sure if I'll live up to the image of a hero. I don't really feel honest or just about it at all." Sighing with disappointment.

"In what way?" Renko stopped drinking and gave her a curious look.

Maribel looked Renko in the eye and explained. "Well, I went to take the exam because people told me it was an opportunity. My quirk's pretty powerful and flashy, after all. I've been trying to justify it all to myself, but going there simply to develop my confidence and skill doesn't seem heroic. I feel unfit."

Renko pondered and then cleared her throat, gaining Maribel's attention."The heroes of today are law enforcement. Where bullets and body armor fail, quirks prevail. That's why the police only apprehend and arrest, as well as investigate cases." She moved both of her arm forward as to catch Maribel's attention using body language.

After a short pause, she ended her speech. "Some people might not think about it, but the reason heroes exist was due to demand. Which was naturally met by supply. Even if you don't think of yourself as heroic, people want you because you have potential for a job most are unfit for and they will pay you a lot to do it. That's why there's nothing wrong with becoming a hero just for money or to better yourself." Thereafter she would lower her arms. "I'm sure that's why your dad wants you to be a hero. Just do the job, and do it right."

Maribel looked dumbfounded for a moment, but delved into thought and came to a conclusion. "I guess I'll just have to agree..." She said, looking back at Renko.

Seeing that Hearn had no problem understanding her reasoning, she'd smile. "That's great. You're not as bad at thinking as you say you are. But you should take what I said to heart because it lies at the core of heroism as a job. While some people may say that you're not nice enough or inspiring enough, that's not a job requirement." Renko then threw her arms up for a moment. "Besides, if you're so worried about heroism, surrounding yourself with heroes seems like a great way to learn from their heroism."

"I mean, sure, but not all heroes are about heroism."

The brunette nodded. "That's a given, but they like good public reception. A lot of people will deliberately try to look as appealing as possible and bend themselves in order to gain popularity. Human society at work."

"Alright, alright. I get it." The blonde said and decided to shift topics, raising her hand. "By the way, I can open gaps at a one-kilometer distance, at the very least." She continued, lowering her hand and looked smug.

"Didn't you get sick when you tried that last time?" Renko asked, picking up her biscuit.

Maribel's look didn't falter and she explained further. "Only because I used it in succession with other gaps. If I'm fresh, I will only get a little nauseous." Meanwhile, Renko took a bite out of the biscuit.

Hearn just kind of looked at her friend as she chewed down the biscuit, amused. "That's got to be a great if you want to get somewhere, but you can't use it in public without a hero license. -That'd be a good reason to pursue heroism, yes?"

"I suppose so." Maribel said, drinking up the last of her tea. "I think we should finish up our litter chatter, then we could try more things with my quirk at home or something."

"That sounds exciting. Let's do it."

They both chugged down the rest of their hot drinks and found both of themselves freezing up for a second. A flame burnt in their throats, on their tongues. They went inside and asked for glasses of water and quickly drank it. With their predicament done away with, they paid up and left satisfied.

* * *

With only a few lights left on, Maribel's room looked pretty comfortable. The curtains were down while sunset went on outside.

Maribel's bedroom was pretty well kept, she had a desk empty of everything but an old desktop computer with a dusty screen beside it. Besides this, the floor was tidy, there were no littering pens or anything of the like. The white walls and the two windows behind her double bed offering her house a very simple, but appealing feeling. By the left wall was a shelf filled with various books, from manga all the way down to some old historical books and European literature. The other wall was decorated with old photos, mostly ones of Maribel and her father, some were of locations around Japan. Among them was Kyoto, Mt. Fuji, Mt. Hiei, many other places, photographed by herself, or her dad most likely. Renko remembered some of those trips, because she got to tag along on a few of them.

"So you thought about trying to move your gaps while they were still active?" Renko reiterated from their walk to Maribel's house.

Maribel quickly told her about the purpose of her idea. "I thought it could help with nausea of using it repeatedly."

"And how do you think you're going to create this phenomenon?" The brunette asked only because she wanted her friend to have a spark of ingenuity. Letting herself do all the thinking for her friend is not a good thing, after all.

"When I see a boundary, it's hard to comprehend at first. When I imagine a boundary between locations, it forms into a string of certain length." Maribel scratched her chin and looked at Renko. "I've thought about imagining a field where I create two gaps. They are connected in a wormhole kind of way, and when I focus on one, I expand it. When my focus isn't there, the gap disappears like it usually does. It's a lot like when you make a hole in something, it's a lot easier to tear it up, that's why I think it'll save stamina." Then she blinked twice.

"Wait a moment..." Renko went up from the foot of the bed and scrambled around outside of Maribel's room for a moment. All that Maribel offered was a slightly tired look of confusion. When Renko returned, she had retrieved a red plastic bucket. "Better safe than sorry."

Maribel rolled her eyes and sighed, prompting her best friend to snicker. "Anyway, let's try this." Maribel outstretched her arms her iris turned purple, indicating that her boundary perception was becoming increasingly active. She had told Renko that she could see boundaries normally, but when creating gaps, this allowed her to perceive them in finer detail and in ways she normally couldn't. It was kind of ghostly, in Renko's opinion. Hearn's stance tightened as she suddenly punctured a hole in space to the left and to the right of her bed, these were both connected. They let all the light pass between the two locations and had a strange surrounding glow, but it was very hard to distinguish from the gap itself.

Maribel took a short breath and moved her right arm, the gap on the right began to expand across the wall. "Pfuh..." She let out, part of the gap imploded in on itself, leaving just the imperfect, fracture-looking warp expanding, disappearing and moving silently on her wall. It didn't seem like it was making any contact with any of her belongings, maybe her control had just gotten better.

"Looking great." Renko Usami cheerfully told her friend. This made Maribel feel more confident, and she made a stroke with her left hand in a much more reckless fashion, it flew across the room fluently in little more than a second, stopping next to the other gap.

The boundary manipulator mumbled, her eyes began to glow purple, beyond just changing the color of the iris. Based on her expression, she was completely confident in herself, which honestly wasn't very usual, not in regards to doing new stuff with her quirk. "I wonder if I can..." She mumbled to herself, the fractured gaps she had previously created healed and morphed into more coherent gaps.

"Woah... You look scary all of a sudden." Renko wondered out loud as she turned to look at her friend. It seemed that her friend paid her no mind.

Maribel looked away from the two gaps behind Renko and reached out to her left and created a refined gap, it looked like a simple cut in space. It was hard to see where it lead to as it was all dark inside of it. Maribel pulled back her arm, the familiar rustling of a plastic bag was heard as she pulled out a couple of cookies that she remembers that they made a week ago. It was kept shut with a knot. "I want to test how precise I can be. Let's bet on if I can grab one without opening it."

"Uh... O-oh! Yeah, I bet that you can't do it. If I win, I get the majority of the cookies. If I don't, you get seventy-five percen-" Usami was about to say, but her friend was too quick.

"Looks like I won!" Hearn let out in a teasing manner, smiling like a dummy at Renko as she waved around a cookie in between her fingers. The eyes returned to normal and with it, the two gaps she created earlier ceased and the one she made to get inside the plastic bag vanished alongside them.

They sat down, discussing her quirk, those eyes of hers. Maribel said that she thought it felt pretty strange now that she reflected on it, she suddenly felt a lot more alive and attained a clearer state of mind. Telling Renko that she felt a similar thing when she was going home yesterday. There was no sickness after doing these things, she felt at ease. It was an intriguing phenomenon, probably not the usual.

Maribel too, asked if Renko wanted to sleep over for the night, but she was preoccupied the next day. Her opinion was also that it'd be more interesting to do it on their free time after school had started, since they could learn from each other and see if Merry discovered anything new about her quirk. But they could meet next week, there was plenty of time until school would start. So they ate their cookies, said their goodbyes for the week and Renko went outside, going home.

* * *

It had been a week since the examination.

Maribel Hearn took the letter from U.A as she walked past the kitchen, in truth she wasn't very stressed about it, either she got in or she didn't. The consequences were just fated to happen, and it certainly wouldn't end her life. Honestly, she wanted to try opening it with her quirk, or grabbing the letter inside with it, but she wasn't sure that she had the finesse for that. Even if she could reach down into a cupboard from her room, it wasn't easy, not as easy was it was when her eyes were glowing. _I've improved, that I can say._ She thought.

Grabbing a knife from the cabinet drawer, she cut the letter open and retrieved the important message. Stretching it out before her, a happy smile graced her face as she read it. She turned her head back and yelled throughout the house. _72 points, B on the written test..._

Maribel turned around and yelled towards the second floor of the house. "Dad, I got in!"


	3. Chapter 3: Quirk Apprehension Test

An endless realm of doors. Some of them opened as Maribel passed, revealing locations beyond her imagining, places from her dreams and places from her 'true' reality. There was no gravity, no sun, yet Maribel could see and move around. She'd been here before, but it was different now. It had become significantly darker, and it felt like she was being stalked, two pairs of eyes moving in the darkness. But what had her most anxious; Maribel couldn't see the boundaries in this dream. Whispers danced throughout her mind, around this place, and only made her wish for an escape.

Soon enough she was scared enough to begin to panic, beginning when Maribel believed that she saw human shapes moving around in the distance. Maribel wanted nothing but escape, and as luck would have it the doors around her opened to places of strange attraction. Hearn took the first and found herself to face with a first quarter moon. An endlessly spanning field of red grids, eerily glowing and running throughout all of space. Despite this dream and her thoughts being unusually hazy, Maribel wondered how she was even breathing here. Letting herself spin around aimlessly for what seemed like an eternity she came face to face, upside down, with a person whose face looked creepy. Blue eyes with a neutral expression. A shock that she could not perceive hit her and her dream state ended, it felt like she was falling.

Maribel hit the bedroom floor with a thud. She instantaneously turned around and landed on her back. "O-ow... Gh..." Her hand was held over her nose, she wasn't bleeding, but damn did it hurt. She was whining on the ground for almost a minute until she calmed down and sat up.

 _Guess I'll go brush my teeth..._ Maribel thought with a tired, strained and lifeless expression. It didn't take long for her to change into her new school uniform and fix up her hair, she wasn't that much for cosmetics and most people Maribel knew told her that she looked just fine without it, even after she asked them for an honest opinion. Well, at least whenever she found herself with enough courage to do so.

She left the house for high school later that morning, her dad was more encouraging than usual.

* * *

Maribel Hearn had entered the classroom somewhat early and scouted for the most suitable place to sit at. She took off her backpack and put it beside her chair for now, straightening her posture just a little bit. She learned from Renko and studying as a hobby, that physical fitness contributed largely to how well you could remember and helped against depression. Because of that, Maribel exercised a lot the last year. A benefit of this was a straighter posture and the aforementioned psychological effects, as well as better stamina. Of course, she was not the best but it was a massive improvement on herself from just a year ago. The boundary girl had also figured it would play some part in the practical exams as relying entirely on her quirk wasn't very smart.

Soon enough other classmates would pour in, among them were some vaguely familiar faces. Eventually came Tenya Iida, who cursed how he wasn't there before everyone else. He didn't seem intent on sitting down first, instead taking his sweet time greeting all his classmates personally. _Now I just feel like a loner..._ Thought Maribel and looked at her desk. She didn't know anyone here at all, not one bit.

"Ah, it's you from the exam. Maribel Hearn-san, was it?" He looked down at her with those glasses of his, he oozed an air of an upper class now that he wore something more formal.

"Yep. Nice to meet you again, uh... Tenya Iida-san." Maribel made a pause, having a slow memory at this moment.

There was some small chatter in the room, but it was interrupted when a boy with ash blond hair barged into the classroom. He surveyed the classroom before walking himself over to the empty seat in front of Maribel and sitting down. Thereafter he threw his legs onto the table and leaned on his chair.

"Oh?" Tenya looked to the man who just entered the class. "Ahem, excuse me..." He glanced down at Maribel.

"Mhm, okay." She mumbled to him with what she thought was an indifferent expression, unaware of her own smile. _...You know, I think I should try and get genuinely close to these people. Seeing this, I just don't feel that Renko is enough, and besides, my quirk isn't that special in a hero class._

Tenya made his way over to the new kid in class and after being be met with a glare he spoke in a firm and demanding voice. "Please don't put your feet on the desk."

The glare contorted into a grin. He turned his head to look at Iida. "...Eh? What are you saying?"

"Don't you think it's rude to the U.A upperclassmen and the people who made that desk? Show some manners." He continued where he left off. Maribel could tell he wasn't ready to deal with a delinquent, the approach didn't work back in her school, it was much better to just tell the teacher on them. She thought to herself just after. W _hy would you assume someone thinks like you at first glance?_ _Well... At least he's confident and decisive, I like that._

The boundary girl put her arm against the desk, resting her chin and cheek in her palm. Maribel had become used to being popular, but she didn't find it in her to talk that much, not today at least. While she did this, she paid no heed to what they were talking about, but the loud voice of the boy would emanate and break her out of her little bubble.

"Somei!? So you're one of them rich boys, looks like I'll have some fun crushing you." He leaned towards Tenya in an attempt to intimidate him.

"Crushing? Are you even trying to be a hero!?" He responded seriously. Her eyes wandered around the place until she saw that boy who destroyed the arena trap back during the exam. He hadn't even entered the room yet, but Tenya left the side of the loud kid and approached him. _Maybe he just wants to make his introduction as memorable as possible so that nobody forgets him?_

She really couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance, but she caught that the delinquent from earlier gave her a glance or two. _Come on, Maribel, be a bit sociable._ Maribel grabbed her cheeks by her fingers and pulled them up, forming a fake smile. She let them go just after that and chuckled to herself. After some moments of consideration, Maribel left her desk and walked over to the doorway, eager to introduce herself to the other classmates. The boundary girl got up behind Iida and opted to stand a little to his side, she then made a natural smile before revealing herself.

"...You're the guy who destroyed the arena trap, right?" She peeked out from behind Iida and asked, pointing at the short kid with dark green hair.

He looked visibly stunned for a second before hastily answering. "Uh, yes, that's me! I'm Izuku Midoriya."

Ochaco looked excited to see her again. "Oh, it's you, M-"

"If you're here to make friends, do it somewhere else..." A man muttered behind them, he laid on the floor in a yellow sleeping bag, completely interrupting any conversation. "This... Is the department of heroics." He said, bringing out a soft, plastic drinking carton which he quickly slurped up. Maribel wasn't ready for any of this, and she wasn't ready for what he would put them through later.

* * *

Maribel Hearn didn't know what to expect of the first day. Her dad had no experience with hero schools and her only experience was with junior and below. But people thought there was going to be an entrance ceremony and so on. If Maribel was completely awake, she might've cared, but that nightmare from earlier took the sleep out of her and she felt kind of tired. The teacher, Aizawa Shota put it clearly. "If you're going to become a hero, you don't have much time for such leisurely events." His voice seemed like it would go nicely alongside her current state of mind, tired and uninterested.

Aizawa stood before everyone else with his back facing them. "U.A's selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are. That's also how the teachers run their classes." Before turning to the side and looking at the class. A slight breeze of air came by, ruffling her hair and prompting her to fix it up slightly. "You kids have been doing these since junior high, too, right?" Aizawa took out his phone with the information already displayed, "Physical fitness tests where you aren't allowed to use your quirk. The country hasn't decided to look at what people can do with their quirks, assuming that most people don't become heroes. I think that's foolish and irrational. " He then turned to look at the loud ash blond. "Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right? In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?"

 _He must've checked our names and identified us before he came here today. Back at my school, we just had the teachers ask our names in class, feels a little unnatural._

Bakugo lowered his head to some extent. "67 meters." He said in an unusually dry tone compared to earlier. Maribel was honestly impressed, better than anything in her school.

"Try doing it with your quirk." Aizawa took out a ball with a tracker and held it out to him. Bakugo made his way to Aizawa and the teacher then pointed back at the circle behind him. "You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle. Hurry up and give it all you've got." Aizawa followed up with.

"So we're doing that then..." Bakugo silently groveled to himself, he started to stretch his arms a little bit. He went through a standard pitch throwing motion and then threw the softball with a loud yell and a boom following the instant after. "HRRRGH! DIE!"

 _Where did the ball go?_ Maribel wondered to herself until she noticed what came next.

The explosion concealed where it went until it actually escaped the cloud, a trail of smoke following it as it flew far away. "Know your maximum first, that is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." Homeroom teacher Aizawa said, holding up his phone with the results of the test logged.

 **705.2m**

 _If I'm going to do something like that, I'm gonna get sick, aren't I? Does just letting it go through a gate to somewhere even count as throwing it? ...That's a stupid question, of course it does._

While Maribel was out of it, the teacher was speaking. "All right, whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be punished with expulsion." which caught her off guard. "Do your best."'

"...Huh?" She let out in the ensuing silence, drawing slight ire from the people around her for but a moment. Maribel was still tired today.

"There's nothing to be confused about. We, teachers, are free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students. Welcome to the hero course." Aizawa spoke confidently, causing the class to erupt in chatter.

"W-wha... The one in last place will be expelled?! But it's the first day of school! Even if it wasn't, that isn't fair!" Ochaco Uraraka criticized.

"There's natural disasters, big villains, collapsing buildings and malicious gangs terrorizing the population. Japan is covered with unfairness. You... No, us, heroes are the ones who reverse those situations and restore the peace." Aizawa looked disappointingly at his students for a moment. "If you only wanted to get some friends to go talk with at McDonald's after school, too bad." He set his eyes on Ochaco specifically. "For the next three years, you will be put through constant hardships, you will have to adapt and learn. Go beyond. Plus Ultra." The teacher raised his hand out to them and swayed his index finger back and forth, as if challenging them. "Intelligent work, hard work, use it all and overcome it."

Maribel was still tired, so no amount of encouraging barring adrenaline was going to wake her up. _If that was supposed to be motivating, then he should've raised his voice some more._ Her eyes drifted to the rest of her classmates, everyone else began to stretch and prepare themselves for the upcoming tests. _I suppose I'll do, too._ She thought and tried some of the simple stuff for her arms and legs to stop them from being so stiff.

"All right, demonstration's over. The real thing starts now." Aizawa said, "Follow me. I'll lead you to test one, fifty-meter dash."

* * *

 **Test 1: 50-Meter Dash**

"Hey, Ochaco. I know you're making your clothes lighter, but what about yourself? If you aren't inhibited by gravity, you can just push away and pull yourself forward. The ground isn't solid, after all." Maribel advised, she knew a little about kinetics and such after listening to Renko.

Ochaco gave her a look. "Oh... Oh! That's pretty smart." She replied afterwards and crouched down before putting her feet on the start blocks, holding herself in place using her hands.

Maribel Hearn was also at the start line, not entirely sure whether to use her quirk or not. The person who she was supposed to run alongside was Ochaco Uraraka, just because they happened to stand close to each other. "Hey! Aizawa-sensei, is cross-" She let out, only to be interrupted.

He turned his head to her and gave her a nonchalant look. "Your quirk can be used in whatever way you wish as long as you cross the distance. I know what you're thinking."

The bot spoke in a very high pitched voice as it talked. "On your mark... Get set..." Bang. Just as it started, her eyes entered their special state, which was what happened when she was focusing her quirk. It was not necessary to manipulate the boundaries, but it greatly helped focusing on them. This was followed by Maribel opening a hole in space before her. Unlike her creations back during the entrance exam, this one had the same refined form she had given it back when she invited Renko home. Which was a very mild surprise to her, it seemed that her skill with the quirk was improving. She leaped through it and landed on the other end of the course almost instantaneously.

"0.83 seconds." The robot called out, the gap she had created disappeared and Maribel straightened herself out, which would naturally show off more of her form. I hope I don't get any prying eyes from this.

Some seconds after, Maribel turned around to see Ochaco making her way across the dash, just crossing the finish line a second after she looked. "6.23 seconds." It spoke in the same robotic pipsqueak voice as before.

Once she had crossed the finish line, she took a breather and looked almost satisfied. Her eyes returned to normal. Ochaco clasped her fingers and fell into the dirt, but picked herself up quite quickly.

"Thanks, Merry! That was a great idea." Ochaco told her as she stood back up.

"...I feel like I'm cheating with my quirk." Maribel soullessly exclaimed, in truth it was more in the way that she didn't really cross it on foot.

"You're not here for a competition, though. There's no need to feel like that." The brunette uplifted the blonde. Maribel looked at Ochaco with her tired look as a response.

"I guess so..."

"Are you're tired." She commented on the boundary girl's state of being, sounding a little concerned even if it wasn't so serious.

Maribel gave her a glance with a glimmer of life this time, "Well, my nights have never really been good."

Zero Gravity's wielder was intrigued. "Do you wake up from nightmares all day?"

"...It's happened." She replied very plainly, too tired to really care what she was saying. _Not a chance that I would tell her everything about those dreams._

* * *

 **Test 2: Grip Strength**

It was a very simple test. She had no questions. Just so she would be used to her quirk for the rest of the test, she decided to focus it. Maribel took one of the devices and gripped it with all her might, a brief flash in her eyes occurred to give her...

 **36kg.**

She didn't commonly do these tests, but back in junior high, her result was far lower than that. Was lifting each once in a while really that effective? Maribel didn't know, and simple put it back where it belonged as it hadn't broke or anything.

* * *

 **Test 3: Standing Long Jump**

Maribel had an idea for this test, she would create a gap beforehand that she could go through to outside the measurements for the long jump entirely. Her sprint was off to a good start and her jump was alright, nothing special. When she reached the gap she flew straight through and landed outside the testing zone, it was a rough landing, but she forced herself back up quickly.

Aizawa simply gave the people who crossed the measurements completely a 'Clear' as they completely cleared the test. Not everyone's quirk let them pass it.

* * *

 **Test 4: Repeated Side Steps**

She wasn't sure how to handle this one, so initially she tried jumping normally but suddenly stopped when an idea entered her head. Her posture fixed into a tighter one and she created a gap that would lead right above each line. She got in the middle and essentially split herself in two. Instead of having to do long jumps, she simply jumped up and down on each of her feet, landing her a 73.

According to Iida, this was apparently a very high score which he hadn't beat. He could do around 50, but due to his quirk not being suited for rapid side-ways movement, he couldn't use it so well for this. There were some higher placements, but she could count them on her fingers.

* * *

 **Test 5: Softball throw**

Thinking mostly about how she was going to tackle the tests using her quirk was more annoying than she thought it would be, but she already had an idea for this test after watching the demonstration. Maribel thought she could simply toss it through a gap and be over with it, simple enough. "Aizawa-sensei, how long is this field?" Maribel scouted out, unsure of its size.

"Four-hundred meters." He looked at his mobile device, replying in a disinterested way before looking back at her.

 _Maybe I'll try to top that guy from before. I've been using my quirk a little bit recently, so I hope I don't get too nauseous. But, you know... Go beyond and all that...!_ Her iris became purple, those who noticed found themselves with more intrigue than earlier. Some had already seen the phenomenon, but now that she was probably going to exert herself more, it was somewhat more exciting.

She pulled herself into a pitcher pose, thinking she was going to use it to activate her quirk by timing it with her muscle movements. "I'll send it across the entire field..." She spoke to herself. Maribel tried drawing the image into her mind, a distance beyond the field, beyond the clearing outside of it and further into the forest. Throwing it by bending slightly down and sending her arm down conjunction, she let go and threw the ball. Space twisted and the ball just disappeared through a round rift immediately that led to somewhere far away, before it disappeared.

"Two point zero-five kilometers." Aizawa smiled at the results. "Impressive, it's been a while since I've seen a class with multiple high scorers in a row."

 _S_ he looked confused, the last time she created a gap over those distances she became extremely nauseous. It was almost like she'd throw up on the spot. Maribel brought a hand to her chin and pondered, noticing a faint purple glow coming from her eyes. Looking over to the rest of the class, some looked on impressed. Even if Ochaco had broken any record, this was an impressive feat as it had outdone the previous numbered record made by Bakugo. Maribel glanced at him as she thought and received one back, but before she saw how he responded, she walked out of the circle and back to the class. Instead of any enthusiastic celebrating on her part, she simply wobbled back to the class. Damn did she feel sick after creating that gap, but compared to the last time she tried something similar with Renko, it went a lot better. _...Could I be improving my quirk?_

Next up was the boy whose name she hadn't asked for yet, he broke his arm back during the entrance exam. Maribel approached Iida from behind and asked "What's his name again?" with a moderately unbalanced pose. Dizzy. Her eyes became gold again without anybody noticing.

"It's only been close to an hour, Merry." Tenya replied to Maribel, snickering a little as if he thought she was playing dumb. "He's Izuku Midoriya. Though, I don't think he's doing too well right now."

"Oh... I forgot his name." Maribel responded, starting to lean on Iida for support. "He destroyed that arena trap, I can't imagine he won't throw that thing a couple hundred meters at least."

"Your display was pretty impressive, but if he uses the same amount of force he used back then, maybe he could top it." Tenya Iida replied, they spoke lowly, so the teacher didn't seem to notice.

Just as Izuku was about to throw his ball, the wrappings around Aizawa detached and Izuku's arm ceased glowing and the ball was thrown normally. Landing at 46 meters.

"I-I was definitely trying to use it just now..." Izuku blinked, looking at his arms and then back to the teacher.

"I erased your quirk." The teacher gave him an intimidating look. "That entrance exam was definitely not good enough considering a kid like you slipped through the cracks, I suppose we'll need to review the examinees personally next time."

"You erased my quirk?!" Izuku was confused, but eventually a look of understanding, albeit sadness spread across his face. "Those goggles, I see! You can erase other people's quirks with your quirk just by looking at them! Eraser Head!"

Almost everyone began to chatter. "Yes, yes... Anyway, from what I can tell, you can't control you quirk at all. Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone save you?" The teacher berated him.

"Th-that's not my intention!" The student let out. Immediately as he said this, one of the wrappings took a hold of Izuku and pulled him close to Aizawa. He spoke lower and then raised his voice for everyone else to hear "Izuku Midoriya. You have courage, but a self-injuring quirk like your own won't help you become a hero."

Izuku gulped and go back into place as Aizawa returned to normal, "You have two turns left for the throw. Hurry up."

"Looks like he received some advice." Tenya took note in the same authoritative voice as usual.

Bakugo cut into the conversation and began to speak. "Probably that he'll be expelled."

"...But he destroyed the arena trap..." Maribel replied with plainness unmatched by even Aizawa's voice and pulled away from Iida.

Bakugo glared, but in her drowsy state, Hearn couldn't care any less.

Izuku had stood there for almost a straight minute before he got into position again, he held the ball tight and prepared to throw. "SMAAAAASH!" Midoriya yelled out as he threw the ball, focusing all his power into what appeared to be his finger.

Maribel was shaken by the sudden sonic boom from the throw, but not only that, Izuku emitted a feeling of overwhelming power and will. Back during the exam she couldn't get to feel it so clearly. Perhaps it was because he passed by so fast, but on display and for her to see, it was something different. Through her quirk, she felt intimidated, and that didn't help her sickness. So all of a sudden Maribel began losing her balance and barely stood up.

His throw had kicked up some dirt, so the student wasn't even visible until it settled. Once he became visible again, Izuku took a long look at his finger before glaring back at his teacher as some sort of revenge. "Sensei... It looks like I can still move!" He yelled out and clenched his fist in victory, raising it up high for a moment.


	4. Chapter 4: The Results

"700 meters?!" Shouted the class and chatter immediately erupted.

"He finally got a suitable hero record!" Ochaco praised Izuku.

Iida sounded a little stunned. "I knew the results were gonna be crazy with quirks, but this is just..."

Among all of the talking, the boundary girl felt really sick. Her quirk had a couple of traits, and feeling mystical auras and even quirks was one of them. Thus the sheer power of Izuku's hit Maribel with more than just air. She fell forward and caught herself with one arm. Placing the other hand over her mouth whilst keeping her lips as shut as possible. Then she rolled over onto her back and swallowed it all, breathing normally again. A few eyes fell on her, most notable of which being Bakugo, but the sudden sickness had made her very passive and she didn't bother reacting.

"Maribel-san, are you alright?" Tenya kneels over to her. He then glanced over to Izuku and mumbled. "...His finger's swollen." Before looking back at her.

"Pfah..." Maribel removed the hand from her mouth as nausea started fading away. "...I went overboard with my quirk, and I get very ill when I do." She said rather silently, having previously gotten the ball to two point zero-five kilometers. _It was only a little bit worse than when I traveled a kilometer to my house, I must be getting better, I must be._

"So that's why you were acting like that at the entrance exam. Well, let me help you up again!" Tenya spoke honestly and reached out. She took his hand and got on her feet. Then dusting herself off.

Bakugo in the meanwhile had frozen, staring at his old and new classmate with a shocked expression, then suddenly charging at Izuku. "Deku! You sh-agh!" But was silenced as Aizawa captured him with a single swiping motion of his weapons and erased his quirk. The thick fibers bound themselves over his face, over his arm and by his chest. Katsuki basically fell into it and was forced to stop. The hothead turned his head a little to look over his shoulder. Everyone else stood and stared at Bakugo, which looked like it made him just a little uncomfortable.

"Don't make me use my quirk over and over again. I have dry eyes." Aizawa angrily barked at Bakugo.

"Now, stop wasting time. The next student is up..." Aizawa halfheartedly let out. He let go of Bakugo and blinked, returning the explosion quirk to his student. The teacher's hair fell nicely, and he looked very suave. Which only stirred the class into talking even more.

After Bakugo had been subdued, he didn't care to act and just stood still, thinking. Izuku took his opportunity to swiftly move around him and walk away.

"...What's with them?" Maribel asked nobody in particular, tiredly.

Ochaco cut in and decided to comment on it in a slightly cheery tone. "I haven't talked that much with him about it, but I think they knew each other before U.A."

The boundary girl didn't bother responding, but nodded instead. Izuku made his way back to the crowd and specifically towards Ochaco, who came a little bit closer to meet him. "Is your finger all right?" She asked.

"A-ah, yes..." He replied meekly.

* * *

After that test, they did situps. She couldn't come up with a way to use her quirk in this situation and felt terribly drained by nausea she was experiencing. So as a result she scored far below average. Setting her at 24 sit-ups in a minute. If she didn't feel so fuzzy, she would've bet on at least 30.

The following test, seated toe-touch, was reasonably simple. Maribel scored +9cm beyond her toes, which was also fairly average.

* * *

The final test was the long-distance run. They were to run for as long as they could around the field. As long as they could keep crossing a lot of distance, it would be fine. It's as much a quirk endurance test as it would be a normal one. When the marathon begun, it became painfully obvious who could keep up the longest. The one with the easiest transportation, Maribel, and the one with the engine quirk, Iida.

The blonde's feet hit the dirt ground as she stepped out of a boundary. In a few seconds she managed to cross hundreds of meters. But constantly trying to create a gap with her newly improved technique would undoubtedly strain her. One bonus to creating a gap with real form, rather than a crack was that the effect seemed to mostly rub on her rather than the boundaries. If her stamina ran out, she could still force herself to keep going. To mitigate this, she would break it up with a jog for as long as she needed to recover. The girl couldn't quite pull off three kilometers, but doing a tenth of that would be perfectly possible as long as she got to recover in-between.

Her main competition was both the fastest on foot and the most enduring. Without going into some sort of overdrive, Tenya Iida could keep running almost indefinitely, something that Maribel herself couldn't say. But making up for it was the amount of distance she could cross in one go, almost the entire field. They happened side by side at times, the class watching every move, and as far apart as they could be at others. In the end, they both passed a ten-kilometer mark on the running within 15 minutes. They were allowed to keep going, but they could both feel it was getting tiresome and repetitive, even with the silent competition between them both.

 **FSSSSSSSHHHHHH!** A whistle rang out. "That's enough! We don't have all day!" Aizawa yelled to them, echoing across the field. Both of them abruptly stopped.

"Hah..." Maribel breathed, panting. She turned away from the field and started to wander slowly towards Aizawa.

Tenya Iida was far more composed and kept himself steady even after the incredibly long run. "You're quite good with that quirk. You kept being right ahead of me."

"You too... I don't have the luxury of having a physical enhancer... Hehe..." Maribel rubbed the back of her head. A calm gust blew past them and sent her hair into her face for a moment. She stumbled right into her classmate as her dizzy state caught up with her. He put his hands on her shoulders to keep her straight. It was honestly quite comfortable, but somewhat embarrassing in front of the other classmates. Well, at least for the girl.

"Meriberr..." The teacher called out as he approached.

Maribel stumbled a little as she jerked her head in his direction and let her words escape her lips. "Ehm, Merry... Just call me Merry." Her hand flew up to her face to pull the hair out of it and behind her ears.

Aizawa had problems pronouncing her name, which was always kind of embarrassing for her to see, but it was a foreign one after all. "Merry-san... You're doing good, but don't try to go over the limits of your quirk like you did on the softball throw. A hero can't go around being sick in a tough spot." The teacher told his pupil seriously. "Iida-san, you were very good too."

"I understand. I've been getting better at handling it, though, making sure I didn't tire out on this run." Maribel replied as critically as she could think of right now. Aside from being tired, her normal thoughts were also feeling a little hazy and her balance was somewhat off.

"...Mhm? Well, you covered more ground than the ball did, after all." He raised his eyebrow. "Let's hope you can improve even more then. If you are going to learn, you need to have potential to be expanded upon." Aizawa gave her a smirk and then walked off to the building at the edge of the field. "Everyone gather in front of me!" He called out. Iida pulled himself away from Maribel and took a few deep breaths before standing upright again, still panting. Then they would go back to the teacher and group up with everyone else.

"It's time to go over your results. The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It'll take too long to explain with words, so I'll show you a chart." The teacher told them. He scrolled through his mobile device and then clicked, bringing up a holographic projection of their scores.

Everyone looked at it, some chatter amongst each other began. Loads of students had their eyes go into the back of the crowd, at the one mocked as Deku. Maribel wasn't that interested in his poor results, making it only a mental note.

"Fifth place isn't so bad." Hearn told herself out loud. If this was based on their marks, she would think that her extremely low time on the running tests put her there. "You did pretty well too, Ochaco." She looked over at her classmates as she too skimmed over the results.

Aizawa clicked at his phone again and the results disappeared. "By the way, I was lying about the expulsion. It was a deception to draw out the upper limits of yourselves and your quirks." He looked so smug that his cheekbones were about to break. Amongst the class, there was confusion, uproar even. But it was quickly silenced by someone.

"Of course it was a lie. It would've been obvious if you thought it through." A female student said.

 _I don't get it, how can it be obvious? Is it school policy, his demeanor?_ The boundary girl thought to herself, scratching her cheek. _A fluke? I don't know._

"We're done here. There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom when you get back, look over them." Teacher Aizawa said and then walked away. He passed by Izuku once and left him a paper.

"I can't believe I didn't see through that... Maybe I could look at the boundary of truth, or something like that." Maribel let out with less drowse than earlier.

"Your quirk does more than create portals?" Tenya asked curiously, as he looked at her.

"Well, I manipulate boundaries. They are things I see. And when I focus, I can distinguish and perceive boundaries the way I like." Maribel closed her eyes and focused. Those eyes had become a violet sea that shaded over all but her pupils, of which were only lightly hidden among the colors.

"So that's what it was. To tell you the truth, you look a little scary when you're like that." He remarked as he stared into her eyes. For her it was moderately entrancing to just stare into each others eyes like that, but not for him. _How strange._

"Ah, I get that a lot for some reason. At least when they are glowing, they've been doing that recently." She closed her eyes for a second and breathed through her nose once. When her eyelids were opened, her eyes had returned to that typical golden color of hers.

Just as she did, his expression changed for the better. "Let's go back to class, then." He looked away, and they walked back towards their separate changing rooms.

* * *

As she went on her way from school, a breeze flew by and made her hair flow in the wind. Usually, she wore a mob cap. Not only because it was fashionable on her, but it held some of her hair in place. It was a bit of an old item worn mainly by European women ages ago, but recently it had gotten a mild resurgence in popularity internationally as casual wear. It's like I'm Renko from a week ago... She thought as strands of hair got into her face only for her to swipe them away from her face with her index finger.

"See you tomorrow, Maribel-san!" Tenya waved to her, straightforward, but with a friendly voice. She stopped and waved back, then they split up and walked their separate ways. Maribel Hearn didn't use the trains around here to get anywhere, as her home was close enough not to have a train station. It did however, have a station for trams, which meant she was looking for it. Her knowledge of the area was also imperfect, she wasn't sure where everything was. Back after the entrance exam, Uraraka had decided to walk with her for a while before splitting off, but Maribel figured it was just for the sake of talking. She had said that she could also get home by simply taking the train, after all.

Maribel turned around to look at Iida one more time, he had stopped Izuku and was talking to him. The view made her recall the day. _He scored pretty low. Maybe he got hurt by his quirk and couldn't do better in the end? Honestly, I kind of agree with Aizawa, why would someone like that be allowed here? And why does he come across as so weak despite that quirk?_ _Oh well._ She thought and then turned back to where she was going. Walking home.

* * *

On their way to the station, a topic was brought up by none other than the boy Maribel thought was useless. "I know you scored an infinite, but that other girl who sent it kilometers away, who is she?! Her quirk is pretty cool." Midoriya asked eagerly and excited.

"That's Merry, she said her quirk can manipulate the boundaries between places or something like that." The infinity girl spurted out of her mouth.

"Maribel says she can manipulate the boundaries she sees, but she hasn't tried much with anything other than the ones between places. Her eyes made me feel strange when she was using her quirk with them." Tenya explained calmly, expressing his body language by swinging out his arm to the other two.

"That's a unique quirk, can't say I've ever seen something like it. It's like a really cool warp quirk! There isn't a single active hero with a quirk like that!" Izuku exclaimed, quirks and heroes were his thing and even the aspiring ones made him excited. _I should write it down after I'm home!_

"She topped some of the tests with it, can't say I'm surprised. Merry's also really helpful! The first test went a lot better for me because she gave me an idea." Ochaco commented, taking on a happy expression.

"She gets sick if she uses it too much. Isn't that a lot like you, 'infinity girl'?" Tenya proclaimed, looking dedicated enough.

"Ah! She helped me save Deku-kun." The brunette recalled excitedly. "Also, aren't you around her a lot?" Ochaco teased.

Tenya's face adopted a hint of embarrassment. "It's not like that! I'm just doing what I think is best. The class should support each other, after all." Before settling back into his usually calm and earnest demeanor.

Their conversation drifted off unto something else as time went on. Eventually, they got to the station and separated, going home for the day.

* * *

Maribel went home with a surprising amount of energy again, this had started happening more frequently recently, she would always start to feel more alive towards the end of the day. When she got home, she spent some time overlooking the curriculum... _English, that'll be easy, maybe I'll attract some praise for that..._ She thought in English. After some reading, she fell onto her bed and wondered about many things.

 _I was going to have a sleep-over with Renko this week, should I do it at the end of it? I have a feeling I'll be doing many things the next few days. It doesn't feel like I'll have the time to do any of that._  
 _Also, why do people keep getting intimidated by my eyes? Do they inspire fear? Maybe it's something spiritual rubbing off on them, shame tha- No, it's great that I can't feel my own aura. My dad might be able to feel it with his quirk, I could ask him to see._

She laid there, thinking about herself, things involving her and her quirk.

It's going to be kind of hard making 'friends' like I did back in junior high, this time around people aren't as interested in my quirk. Even then, I wasn't so interested in having those... people as friends, only Renko was the one concerned with the things it could do. Not what I was doing with it. It seems I'll just have to greet people with a smile and get into the group. Learn what they like to talk about, then I think I'll feel less empty, just like I did before. ...Aizawa-sensei told me to I'm getting better at handling my quirk, but I'm unsure how it's all happening. There was that time with Renko, last week, it was pretty weird.

I feel afraid to sleep, what was that face? My dream didn't feel normal in that realm of doors, but it became far too real when I got to that space-place. Maybe I could try getting into my dreams using my quirk. Even if they aren't supposed to be real, what's to say my quirk doesn't work on imaginary things? I can see their boundaries, after all.

The boundary girl reached out and began swirling around with her hand. Twisting her fingers around imaginary boundaries that she could see for minutes on end, causing faint ripples in the air.

My hero costume isn't anything extraordinary or overly foreign, I hope nobody rags on me because of it. I don't need any particular weapons or gadget for my skills to shine aside from maybe something to combat nausea. That, however, is something I'll consider a secondary concern for now. What I want to be is to be relatable to the average person. If they can associate with you, they'll group with you and be more positively receptive. At least, what's what I've read.

On the thought of heroes, what should be my hero name? My quirk controls reality's weave, which could be like a lucid dream... Lucid, boundaries... Ironically, I can't control my dreams, not all the time at least. My dreams like pretending they are my reality. They feel real, phantasmagoria. Border of Phantasm, perhaps? Hmm... Eh, maybe I can make it more personal.

On another note, I have an idea.

* * *

Maribel had gone down to the lower floor of her house and had dinner. She avoided asking about her aura when using her quirk like that. It felt too personal in all honesty. Once Hearn got back up to her room, she got back to thinking. Since she needed to sleep in some hours, there was no problem in making use of the opportunity.

Imagining her own boundaries with her quirk was not very easy and Maribel wasn't used to it. Thus, when she actually managed to feel her quirk working on her own boundaries, she was ecstatic in her drowsy condition. Maribel Hearn took a deep breath and focused. Hearn's boundaries were singled out and just like that did she find the one that belonged to her dream state. The boundary was nothing but a thread, but with a little bit of effort, she could expand it. She felt like she was torn from her body and sent away, her eyes opened to reveal an incomprehensible and shifting space. Eventually, it all settled, and she found herself within the vast realm of threads. The waxing gibbous moon looming over her in a strange blue color. Perceiving this place had become a lot easier, and it was clear what she was doing. There was a slight tilt to everything, slowly turning the place around. She was spinning.

"Oh? You've fallen asleep again. Finally, I can ask. Are you human? You don't feel the part."


	5. Chapter 5: Sweet Dreams

_U2 Akiyama - Touhou: Antinomy of Common Flowers - Sheep Sleep Parade_

Maribel was afloat in space. Stars littered the sky, strings of red energy overlaid across all of creation. Before her sat a mysterious creature, the human mind would instantly recognize it as a person, but not Maribel. Hearn felt a sinister presence from this woman. She bore dark blue hair, deep blue eyes and an unusual black and white garb. It reminded her of a sleeping garb. A peculiar tail hung from behind her and an oversized red night cap adorned her head.

"I see you're having an experience." The youkai stated plainly, leaning towards her. Maribel spun around, but this creature did not. _How can I hear her? This is space, furthermore... How is she remaining in place?_

Maribel's eyes darted to the strange grid that covered every dimension and then quickly tore her eyes off, thinking that looking at it for too long would disorientate her. "I haven't seen somebody come into this place with their physical body for a while. Tell me, how did you get here?" The creature began to question.

"A-aha. Well, I went through a d-door in my last dream and... drifted a bit, then I awoke." The boundary girl said nervously, Maribel tried to orient herself in the orbital environment to no avail. Wiggling her arms, swinging them around, nothing worked. This made no sense to her, she could breathe air, but not herself move in it. Soon she would spin around her axis, and the youkai disappeared from her sight.

There was a pause, the woman then opened her mouth. "So you didn't come here willingly, and you say you're dreaming right now?" The creature asked her curiously, inching closer without Maribel's awareness.

"Well... I wouldn't call this a 'real' dream... Uh, I have these every once in a while, you see!" Maribel said as nervously as before, spinning over her axis to face the woman again. She wore black and white apparel with a red and white night cap, a little reminiscent of that of a hero. Her eyes were strange, reminding her of her own eyes when she uses her quirk.

"Abnormal dreams are your normal? Hmm..." The woman thought, her mouth contorted into something more alike that of a cat, which gave Maribel a surprise. "Similar things have happened before, but not for youkai." She edged a little closer and smiled, raising her eyebrows to form a smug look.

Maribel felt the spiritual presence of the woman as she came closer. It was a mysterious and frightening feeling, but since she wasn't dreaming like she usually did, she felt like she had control over the situation. _She said I didn't feel like a human, calling me youkai... I'll just run with it._ The student had to think up a cover. "As a youkai, I create gaps in reality and hide in them." Maribel smiled innocently. "I woke up here again by manipulating the boundary between my dream self and me." She explained as best she could.

"That would mean your dream self is in the real world right now, correct?" The woman asked Maribel with an expression that quickly turned stern.

Greeting her with submission, Maribel admitted "I've got no idea." and shrugged, a drop of sweat running down her face as she had no idea what a 'dream self' was. The woman would grab hold of Maribel's shoulder and keep her still for a few moments. Then she let go, forcing her rotation to stop by bleeding off her velocity. Her hand let go, and she straightened out. She was a few centimeters taller than Maribel, but Hearn was still growing.

"I'll give you a warning, don't do that if your dream self is in the dream world. It will weaken the boundary between the dream and real world if you do it too much." She warned Maribel with a hint of aggression in her voice, causing a slight whimper from the heroine. The woman's face then softened, she let her mouth hang a tiny bit agape as she told Maribel; "But if your dream self isn't in the dream world, it should be fine."

"I'll remember that." She would mumble, trying to keep her expression as innocent as ever, no frowning, no nothing.

"While youkai don't commonly lose their sense of self in dreams, I wouldn't advise staying here for long." The woman would let out a deep breath. "My name is Doremy Sweet, ruler of this part of the dream world. I am a baku." Doremy Sweet would then tell Maribel Hearn with some politeness.

"Hmm... Oh..." The heroine had an idea. "When I awoke, I was wondering where I ended up. You say this is the dream world? Is this where all... 'Normal' dreams end up?" Hearn would ask of the baku.

"To best explain would be to show you around, show you the dreams. This your intention, is it now?" Doremy raised her left eyebrow as she looked at Maribel, staring at her with a supremely taunting expression, despite her curious tone.

"I suppose it is." Maribel admitted, although it wasn't her entirely true. "Will you allow it?"

"Hmm... Hmm? Hmm." Doremy balanced her chin against the tip of her finger, rolled her eyes and then set them back on the gap youkai. "Fine, but obey my rules."

 _Song End_

* * *

Her mind brought only silence and thoughts, whatever melodies she usually thought of, she could not hear.

The sun entered through the blinds in her room and woke her up. Maribel wasn't all that drowsy today, despite having a 'real' dream. It was a fresh experience for her. She threw off her bed sheet and shot up onto her feet, stretching a little. "Wha.." She mumbled, looking around for a clock, she went over to her side table and took her phone. Putting it out of sleep, the interface lit up, telling her the time.

 **6:00**

 _Is it really that early? I'm not even tired._ She thought.

Putting on her clothes, she made her way downstairs and got herself some breakfast. Produced herself some bread, laced it with butter and then put on some cheese and ham on top of that. To drink, she simply got herself some orange juice. She ate slowly, finishing after some 20 minutes, most of which she spent browsing the internet on her phone. At one point she started looking over some incidents concerning particularly destructive villains. Mostly out of curiosity, thinking it'd be a tiny opportunity to see how you're supposed to deal with them. "That's the loud kid, right? Bakugo." Maribel spoke to herself lowly as she eyed an old article, it was a little bit over ten months old.

 **All Might stops sludge villain!**

 **Earlier today, the #1 Hero All Might showed up to stop a villain using a quirk to turn himself into sludge from hurting two young boys. The first victim was under danger of having his body stolen by the villain and the second victim rushed out to save him, but was retaliated against. Just then, All Might arrived and defused the situation by knocking the villain unconscious.**

 **Read More!  
-**

The picture accompanying the headline showcased All Might before the mess, next to him was Bakugo. Maribel loaded the recorded film footage of the incident. A boy ran out from the crowd, right at the sludge villain, and threw his backpack at the villain in an attempt to stun him. After reeling momentarily, the villain retaliated, only to be blown away by All Might. Leaving Bakugo and who she now recognized as Izuku in his grip. He let them down onto the ground and turned to face the camera, letting the other heroes go forth and clean up the mess. The video would then stop. _I wonder why he didn't use his quirk... Must've wanted to limit collateral I guess. I'm confused, though, why's Bakugo so pissy about Izuku after he tried saving him?_ Maribel's thoughts drifted on. _Regarding that quirk. He had to improvise on yesterday's test, so he didn't know how to focus it all into his finger yet, or something like that. He also gets hurt when he uses it, hmm._

"You're awake early today." Maribel's father stated as he came into the kitchen. They had some small talk while he prepared his own breakfast.

"Yeah, it feels super weird. I'm even rested. Oh well..." She commented and shrugged. Maribel put her feet to the wooden floor and walked out of the kitchen. "I'll be at my room until I leave for school." She looked back and then went upstairs, hearing the approval of her father thereafter.

* * *

Maribel dropped onto a chair in the classroom and leaned against the table. Until everyone else arrived. First was Tenya. "Ah, Merry?!" He yelled in surprise and then cleared his throat. "You're here really early, impressive!" Tenya reacted to her unexpected presence. His face contorted into an unremarkable smile, but it did so much to lighten the mood, Maribel took notice of these things.

"I just so happened to have a good morning today." Maribel told him straight after stretching a little and looking him in the eye, returning a smile. "Are you used to arriving early?" She'd ask playfully and was quickly given a nod in response. He went to his seat and more students started to arrive, second was the girl from yesterday with the pony tail. Maribel got up on her feet and walked over to her. "Seeing through Aizawa's deception yesterday like that was pretty cool. My name is Maribel Hearn, but you can just call me Merry." Maribel said and would hold her hand out for a handshake.

The black haired girl looked at her for a moment, took her hand, shook and replied. "Momo Yaoyorozu. Those records you set were pretty amazing." It was all sunshine right now. Maribel snickered and looked away with some embarrassment, scratching her chin. "Thanks." The boundary girl gave her a nod before venturing back to her seat. Back during junior high she used to be showered with attention due to her rare quirk. She used it as an opportunity to get to know the class really well. Otherwise never engaging in her popularity to any extreme extent. She still didn't really want to befriend anyone and kept herself mostly to Renko and the odd meeting of classmates.

As the minutes went by, more students came to class. Izuku, Ochaco, Bakugo and others would arrive. Chatter would start going around the class room.

"Your name was Bakugo, right?" Maribel greeted the ash blond boy before her with a rather innocent tone. She raised her head a little, letting her own blond hair fall onto the sides of her face. Her expression was friendly in an attempt to open him up.

"Hmm?" He looked over his shoulder, despite his usual demeanor, her soft smile seemed to soften him just a little bit.

"I saw an old news article featuring you earlier today." Maribel said, he responded with a light groan and was about to say something. "I was just wondering w-why, uh..." She tried finding her words.

"Go on." He would growl at her.

Hearn would frown and continue with what she was saying. "Why are you so angry about Izuku-san after that? It's not like he accomplished anything." She would tilt her head a few degrees to her right, looking into his eyes.

"That stupid shit makes it seem like he did so much, but he did absolutely nothing. All Might was the one doing everything he wished he could do! Being around him with that stupid attitude of his is just insulting." Bakugo replied honestly with some contempt, though it seems that her 'agreement' in his uselessness had made Bakugo take a tiny liking to her. She understood this, and that her wording might've been a little off, but it doesn't matter. She didn't think Izuku had done much to help the situation other than recklessly endanger himself.

"I understan-" The boundary girl was about to say, but whimpered in some form of disappointment as Bakugo interrupted her.

"And don't bring up that incident ever again, got that?!" Katsuki barked at her and then sat his feet on the table, leaning back and waiting for class to start.

"I get it! Don't be so angry about it, jeez." She pleaded back at him. Her upper lip was slightly raised, and she wrinkled her nose, showing some disgust as she gave him a last glance. Rolling her eyes, she dismissed the conversation from her mind and waited for the class to start, fixating her eyes on the entrance to the classroom. _It was supposed to be English class soon._

A smirk would manifest upon her face. Stars appeared in her eyes, this was a chance!

* * *

The English lesson was extremely easy for Maribel. With the exception of Tenya, Izuku and Momo, nobody, in particular, seemed to be anywhere near as capable as her. People asked her for help, and she performed very well and easily so. She got an opportunity to talk a little here and there with the rest of the class, but she didn't get many names.

The rest of the day just slipped past her, the introduction to modern literature wasn't all that interesting, even if Maribel read many books. She was more interested in the stuff upcoming next week. Last was mathematics, which went pretty poorly for her, telling her that she should take some time learning from Renko again.

Maribel entered the mess hall and got herself some food on her lunch plate. She got some eyes from the boys as she walked around, looking for someone to sit next to. Despite some subtle offers, she preferred sitting close to people she knew. She'd find Tenya soon enough, but he was surrounded by others and there was no place to sit next to him. Her search continued, until she found Momo.

"Can I sit with you?" Maribel asked, looking at Momo as she sat down by one of the tables.

Momo swallowed what she was chewing and said "Sure." Prompting Maribel to sit down next to her and placing her food down on the table right thereafter.

"So what's the next lesson? I haven't memorized the curriculum just yet." Maribel asked and started to eat.

"It's foundational hero studies." Yaoyorozu answered plainly and then continued eating. Then they were silent for a minute or two as they kept eating.

A girl shorter than either of them, someone Hearn remembered as a member of their class, came up to them and placed her food down on the other end of the table. Then she sat down in front of them. Her dark purple eyes locked with Maribel's golden ones. "I haven't talked to you before, my name's Kyoka Jiro." She introduced herself with little enthusiasm.

"I'm Maribel Hearn, but please call me Merry, it's easier that way." The boundary girl introduced herself.

"What's the next lesson?" Kyoka asked nobody in particular as she began filling her stomach for the day.

"Foundational hero studies." Maribel was very quick with eating today, so she had already ate most of her meal.

"Ah okay." She would respond. _This feels so embarrassing, what should I even talk about with them? These people feel so alien to me._

They continued eating for some time until Kyoka finished her meal before them. "We could talk about our quirks." She proposed, a look of boredom strewn across her face.

Momo swallowed and replied with "Couldn't hurt."

"Earphone Jack lets me listen through objects and if there's any speaker around, I can plug my heartbeat into the damn thing. Well, that's not very useful in combat without some serious power in those speakers, but I have other things for that. I can swing them around hard enough to knock you out."

"That sounds simple, not that it's a bad thing." Maribel commented, she wished her quirk was that simple.

"It's easier to know and master yourself if you have less to keep track of, after all. So, what about you, Merry?" Momo cut out a piece of meat from her dish and held it up to her mouth, waiting for Maribel to answer.

"Well, ah..." She thought a bit. "My quirk is the very opposite of straightforward. I manipulate and see boundaries by using my emitter quirk, Boundary Manipulation." Maribel explained while leaning her chin on her fist. _I've always thought that name was tame, but it's descriptive enough, all it needs to be._

"I saw you zip across the entire field yesterday. What boundary did you manipulate to do that?" Kyoka scratched her ear and looked at Maribel with a curious look.

"Space, or the boundary between places." Maribel responded passively. "It's the second most basic thing I can do, probably what I'm best at doing right now. It can do more, but I tend to get nauseous when I push it." She continued. She was lying about it to some extent, not wanting to be given a lot of credit. _Manipulating the border between dreams- or you and your dream self, as the baku called it, is useful in its own way._ "Nausea goes away at night for some reason... Whenever I use it, my iris turn purple, which means that I'm observing the boundaries."

"That's a pretty strange one, can't say I've ever heard about someone with a quirk like that." Momo commented, a tiny frown forming on her face, one Maribel couldn't see. Then she ate the piece of meat held close to her mouth.

"It's a little mystical. I can scare people by looking them in the eyes when it's active. Don't even seem to come naturally to them." Maribel explained with some disappointment.

"Then you could scare villains, no?" Momo would offer some advice and run her eyes across them all.

"Now that I think about it, yeah." Maribel smirked and straightened herself out, letting her slightly buxom figure shine, forming frown on Kyoka's face as a result. She then continued speaking. "As far as combat goes, I suppose it's versatile, I crushed a ton of bots back at the entrance exam by closing the gap on them." and retained her apathetic expression. Then she took the opportunity to eat the remains of her lunch with the fork in her right hand.

"Sounds brutal." Kyoka commented on the latter, her expression softening. "I wouldn't want to chop off any limbs though, how do you think you'll deal with that against actual people?"

Maribel shrugged. "Maybe I'll soften and just use them as chains or something."

"Mine's lets me create objects through my skin. Weapons, armor, most things you can think of." Momo in the midst of the conversation, having just finished eating.

"I feel so left out with my quirk being all weird compared to everyone else's." Maribel stared down at her food and contorted her face into one of annoyance.

"Hey, standing out like that might make your name popular among heroes, you wouldn't want that." Kyoka said ironically. They giggled a little and then went back to their meals. Within a few minutes, they left their plates and made their way through the mess hall to the classroom of 1-A.

* * *

Hearn walked past Bakugo, who's expression spoke of mild irriation. She then sat down and waited for class to start. There didn't seem to be much cohesion in class until a dominating voice entered the classroom. "I AM..."

Maribel looked to the door with curiosity as a massive man came through, he was easily recognizable, even to someone who wasn't very obsessed with heroism like Maribel.

All Might.

"...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" He shouted, quickly making his way behind the desk.

"This class is foundational hero studies!" He said, posing a little and giving his trademarked smile to the class. Maribel thought it was funny and started to snicker. "We'll be building your hero foundations through a set of trials! So, let's start right here and now!" He picked up a flat tablet on the desk, flipped it around and showcased it to the class.

 _ **BATTLE**_

"The Trial of Battle!" All Might announced.

Immediately many the boys cheered, Bakugo in particular almost jumped out of his seat. ...Really? I hope it won't hurt more than those robots.

"And to go with your first battle... We've readied the gear we had you draft to match your quirks!" All Might gestured to the wall, containers were pushed by pistons out as if on command. Their gear was numbered from one to 20.

More rounds of amazement came from the class, they were excited about their costumes, including the boundary girl. Maribel stood up and went to retrieve it, having to wade through some of her classmates to do so.

"Check where you're going, I'm down here, too!" A particularly rowdy and short boy shouted at her.

"Oh, sorry, sorry!" Maribel would look down and apologize to the small classmate, raising her hands a little defensively and looking surprised. _Can't these people just learn to check if it's suitable to move yet or not?! ...I shouldn't be getting this irritated._ Maribel would sigh and after some waiting, she calmed herself and reached out for her bag, number 18. Then strolling back to her seat.

All Might made a proud stance and then announced "The garb you bring into battle is vitally important, boys and girls! Get changed, and we'll be ready to go! We gather at grounds B!"

* * *

Maribel sat undisturbed for most of the bus ride. Waiting for them to arrive, and when they did she immediately bolted for the changing room. Mostly uncaring of everyone else.

The girls started to unpack their gear in the changing room. Their costumes were mostly utility based, but those which needed not utility got to supplant it with style. Maribel in particular wanted something simple that could still account, for her, few drawbacks.

Aside from nausea, overabundance of options and a lack of experience, Maribel's quirk didn't have too many faults, none that she could find, anyway. An added bonus of these lack of requirements the costume had to fill was also a relative freedom in its design. Accounting for production costs, she sought to make it visually simple and cheap to repair so she wouldn't have to stick around with a replacement for too long.

Removing it from the bag, she got her first look at it. The color scheme was eye catching and the design inspired a more civilian lifestyle, despite the flair. The color scheme was eye catching and the design inspired a more civilian lifestyle, despite the flair. It caught the eye of other classmates due to the unusual choice in garb, it was not a jumpsuit with large utility apparel, no. This was a stylistic choice of hers. She wanted to look mystical and out of place, just like she felt about her quirk. Without some of the flair however, it wasn't too unlike something she would wear just to be fashionable. Another factor in the design was a little appreciation for the old times.

Her costume consisted of four distinct parts and some accessories. Their fabrics used material techniques to do away with dirt and smears. The first part was a pure white blouse that was bound together by buttons and had a tight collar. The shoulders were puffy and 'bottlenecked' by a pair of crimson ribbons tied to face away from her. Its sleeves were otherwise tight, ending at her wrists with a small set of stylistic frills. It reached down a little past her midsection and wasn't particularly tight down there, no.

The second part was a pure white skirt that reached down past her knees, it was sizable and allowed for movement, despite forming itself completely around her legs. Around her waist was a larger ribbon woven into the dress itself, that would then be tied.

The third part was a combination of tights and shoes. Harboring a futuristic look brought on by being segmented as to move with the body more smoothly. On the upper side of her shoes, it looked as simple as the base of her outfit aside from being colored a dark grey. The underside was colored even darker and were designed to handle uneven environments, such as forest, rubble or the like. It tightly stuck to her skin, yet bent like it was a part of her body.

And finally, she had a tabard-like wear that she would put atop all of this. Colored primarily purple and secondarily black by the edges. She could put it on by opening it with a zipper, allowing her to close it around the base of her neck. It would reach down a little past her waist, ending abruptly. The purple cloth subtly reflected light cast upon it.

Maribel Hearn had removed the school uniform and was just starting to get herself fitted with the blouse. Once she had unbuttoned it and put it on, Maribel put on the leggings. Initially, this gave her the look of an extremely unusual looking office worker, but once she got the skirt on, her aura was far more modest. Not unlike that of a country girl, although given a modern flare. After this she brought her surcoat onto herself, opening it and then closing it around the base of her neck. When it was into place, she shut it using a locking mechanism for the zipper. Finally, she would tie the ribbon around her waist and the surcoat, the knot being at her back.

The accessories, as she liked calling them, included smaller variants of pressure-point stimulants around the wrist and neck area. They would counteract the largest drawback of her quirk. Nausea, headaches and such. The one she placed around her neck was designed as a choker, while the one for her wrists were a little thicker than bracelets. Knowledge about the effectiveness of their function wasn't her expertise. However her recent improvements in handling nausea and such might make any lite variants appropriate due to the increasingly greater lack of support required. Unlocking them, she slipped them onto the rest of her outfit. The last piece of wear she had was a mob cap and a pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes. Mob caps were one her favorite types of head wear, something she usually only alternated for summer hats during the summer. It was good at keeping the hair out of her eyes, so she wouldn't have to brush it aside, a convenience. All she did was put it on, pitch it back a little and tie the ribbon so that it would stay on a bit harder. She took the sunglasses with her, but did not put them on. They were just for concealing the activation of her ability.

 _And there we go..._ Maribel would look around for a mirror and go up to it, carefully inspecting herself. Finding satisfaction, she wanted to ask the other classmates.

"Does this look alright?" Hearn approached Momo while she was still changing into her hero attire, which consisted of a very revealing bodysuit, probably to compliment her quirk. Maribel found it a little too inappropriate herself, but said nothing of it.

Momo shot her a glance for a second or two. "Not an ordinary hero outfit. I'd say it looks good on you." Then she continued putting on her outfit. The next part was a belt.

"I don't have many requirements, my quirk seem to work with my mind, after all." Maribel excused, putting a finger up to her head and poking herself as to express it all comes from her head.

"Wouldn't moving with a skirt be harder than with a jumpsuit or such?" A frog-faced girl approached.

The boundary girl gave her a five second long stare as she felt some slight discomfort before replying. "Nah. With my quirk I don't really need to be quick on my feet. And even if I did, this particular skirt is a little roomy."

"Well, you did top a lot of those tests." Ochaco bounced up behind Maribel. "Hey, you have these kinds of things too." She poked at the choker on Maribel's neck before feeling the similar devices on her arms. "Though, these are smaller than mine." Maribel turned a little and looked on with an unchanging expression of passivity.

"My nausea has gotten better, so I thought that I didn't need any of the heavy stuff. But I guess you do." The sage-looking blonde would lightly knock on the gauntlets covering Ochaco's lower arms. Then she caught sight of the large devices covering their legs. "Do those things cushion falls or something?" Maribel snickered. "They look like they came from a video game."

Ochaco snickered in turn and responding. "They actually do!" Prompting Maribel to laugh a little as she ran a hand over her face.

Momo got up after having put on her costume. "We should be heading out now."

"I never got your name, by the way. I am Maribel Hearn, but just call me Merry. It's easier to pronounce." Maribel calmed herself before asking the frog-faced girl from earlier who hadn't really moved away just yet.

"Tsuyu Asui. Pleased to meet you... Kero." Tsuyu Asui would introduce herself with neutral demeanor. They then grouped up and began to walk out.

"Hey, hey! Wait for me." Kyoka equipped her gloves before catching up to everyone else.

Thus, they would exit the girl's changing room and march out. Their walk would lead them up to the boys, who they would then exit the facility with. What laid before their eyes was a street and All Might himself.


	6. Chapter 6: Trial of Battle

Light bathed her entire body, and she almost reeled back. She stopped abruptly to shield her eyes with her hands. It wasn't like the light was bothering her before, how irritating. Someone bumped into her as she stood petrified by the sun, causing her to stumble forwards a little. The other students moved past her.

Maribel caught herself with her left foot and balanced herself out to a normal standing position, relaxed and looked over her shoulder. What was that just now? She thought as she laid her eyes on the boy who just crashed into her. A deep sigh escaped her.

"I didn't mean it!" He yelped in her direction, raising his arms a little as to protect himself and make some distance. From what she could see of his face, he was distressed, probably not used to talking to a girl.

 _I recognize that voice._ She thought, carrying a poker face.

"We're all here then? You kids are looking good!" All Might's dominating voice pierced all conversation, forcing her to stop talking before she even began.

"There's nothing to worry about." She said, pretty much disinterested in his apologies. She did not know what just happened to her, but she'll have to investigate it later. Maribel looked back to her classmates and caught up to the rest of them. Lining up before All Might and next to a student wearing a black cloak as a costume. There was some chatter coming from the people behind her, a little shouting, but it quickly silenced when the hero before them spoke again. Her eyes drifted right to him, bombarding her with an overwhelming spiritual presence of power, causing her to feel very intimidated.

"Let's see what you're made of you kids! It's time for the trial of battle!" He yelled out at the class. Maintaining an idle pose, undaunted by any questions.

"We appear to be using the same field as the entrance exam..." Maribel heard Tenya's voice and glanced to her right, he was wearing a suit of armor. It made him look like a European knight. To her it felt it a little awkward, causing her to blush a little with her eyes drifting to the pavement. Then back to Tenya once again. "...Are we going to be fighting in an urban setting?"

"Hah, no! You'll be moving onto the next step, indoor anti-personnel battle training!" All Might told them all. He held his arm up to his chest, getting everyone's attention. "Villain battles are most commonly seen on the street, but by statistics you're more likely to find them indoors. Be it confinement, house arrest or black market. Here in Japan the most clever villains keep themselves indoors." He then snapped his arm back into place, balancing it against his waist by his knuckle. "NOW! You'll be split into villain and hero teams and face off in two-on-two indoor battles!"

There was some confusion among the crowd. Maribel wasn't sure if they were going to be taught strategy or actual fighting technique, but now she thought this was more like another evaluation.

"We're not getting taught the basics?" Tsuyu cut through All Might's words with clear confusion in her voice.

"Practical experience teaches you the basics! Know you won't be facing any disposable robots here." He said, still as confident as ever. Immediately a bunch of questions started rolling in:  
"How do you win?"  
"Will this include the threat of expulsion?"  
"How are teams divided?"  
...And so on.

Maribel recognized all these voices but hardly cared who it was, the amount of disruption was starting to get irritating. "Just let sensei finish!" She yelled out, she didn't sound particularly angry, but it shut everyone up.

"Thanks for that." All Might gave her a thumbs up and she smiled. Her ears picked up some familiar groveling from one of the boys, but she didn't mind. All Might procured a tiny piece of paper, unfolded it and then lowered it after taking a quick look. He summarized everything like he had memorized it all instantly. "Here's the scenario. The villains will be hiding a nuclear weapon in the hideout!" He suddenly pointed at them all and continued "And YOU will have to go in and take care of it. The heroes will have a limited amount of time to capture the villains or secure the weapon. The villains have to either capture the heroes or hold the weapon secure until the timer has run out." He abruptly finished and then asked "You got that?"

Chatter flared up again, she heard Iida's voice, but he was drowned out. "Let's get going!" One of the boys shouted out. Hearn's head turned to look at him, a redhead, bare chested. Blushing a little, she couldn't help but think the obvious. _Not much for defense. Momo goes there too, though..._

"All right, it's time to pick your teams." All Might took a set of heavy steps forwards, everyone's turning their heads to follow him and pointed at the boy with what looked like bunny ears."You and Young Uraraka are Team A." His hand would then flow to the side, pointing in the general direction of Maribel. "Young Hearn and Young Tokoyami are Team B." He said, his pronunciation of her foreign name resulted in something closer to 'Haan'.

Maribel looked over to Tokoyami. While the rest of the teams were getting picked, they had a little stare off. She gave up in a couple of seconds, introducing herself. "I'm Maribel Hearn, just call me Merry."

"Fumikage Tokoyami." He told her simply.

"I think if we want to have some good results, we need a strategy. My Boundary Manipulation lets me manipulate the boundary between things, allowing me to create portals. When it's active, my eyes scare people." Maribel wasn't too sure he could get the full scope of her ability based on the idea of boundaries. So telling him that she could create portals would be good enough. She wouldn't want anybody to be prepared for her surprises if any newer teams are made, anyway. _Devilish._

"My quirk, Dark Shadow, allows me to materialize a monster that can attack and protect me." He summed up eloquently. "It gets stronger in the dark." He pointed at himself.

 _We're more alike than I thought, considering how weird my recent nights have been._ "Definitely better for a head-on fight than me. At least if you want to be non-lethal." The boundary girl reasoned and caused him to scoff a little. "I'm believing in decisive victory, so we could use my quirk to ambush and stall the opponent, letting you approach uninterrupted and catching them with their hands full."

"Since we're supposed to defend the weapon, it'd be reasonable to have a defense. I will stay put as a guard in case, any of them slip past you..." He proposed his own strategy. His voice was deep, reflecting his appearance.

"All right." Maribel wasn't actually sure if she wanted to have a retreat, working under pressure, either deadline or not, seemed to give her a bigger push than being free of limitations.

"ALL RIGHT!" All Might shouted. "Let's get down to business!" He then began to pick the teams. He picked out a pair of balls with roman letters on them. The number one hero presented the teams. "The villains are TEAM B!... The heroes are TEAM C! Step forth!" In response they would all take a few steps forward, lining up from shoulder to shoulder.

 **Villains: Team B**  
 **Maribel Hearn**  
 **Fumikage Tokoyami**

 _ **VS**_

 **Heroes: Team C**  
 **Momo Yaoyorozu**  
 **Minoru Mineta**

"Everyone else should head to the monitor room!" All Might pointed to another door, leading to the basement. "Villain team! Go in first and set up! In five minutes, the hero team will break in and the battle will start!" He then told Maribel and Fumikage, facing them.

"Yes, sir..." Maribel lightly told him. She felt very weak while standing right before him. Hearn believed this to be the side effect of her family's quirk to sense spiritual presences. Her possession of it was always weird to her since Boundary Manipulation was a mutated quirk, completely different from her relatives' quirks.

Fumikage remained silent as they went inside. All Might spoke, stopping them. "Young Hearn, Young Tokoyami. Think from the perspective of villains. This is supposed to simulate a real battle. Do your best, don't be afraid to hurt yourself, but don't go too far."

"Right." Maribel replied innocently. Fumikage replied with a "Mhm."

* * *

Tokoyami and Hearn made it to the top floor within two minutes and a half. Maribel sought to take the room into her mind, so she could visualize where to create her gaps. Meanwhile, they discussed strategy.

"Momo's pretty amazing at deduction, I feel like she's smart enough to distract us while that tiny pal of hers sneaks past the door. I'll just have to ensure that she can't get over here in the first place. You can take care of her teammate if he comes over. In the case that I retreat, well, it'll have to be a showdown."

"I'll cover the door. They're at a choke point that way." Fumikage glanced towards Maribel and then looked at the door.

"Right." Maribel sat down on one of the empty oil barrels in the room. They were silent for a minute or so. "I didn't mention it, but my quirk might get stronger during the night. And we look like polar opposites."

"Darkness takes many forms." He snickered, blinking and turning to face Maribel with a smile on his face.

Maribel looked at the ground for a couple of seconds before pushing herself onto her feet. Closing her eyes and stretching a little. "I might as well show you my quirk, I need to warm up a little so I don't get all surprised by nausea later." She'd say, unaware that she was showing off a little bit of her shape by stretching like that. Hearn then stood normally and opened her eyes. Grinning a little as her iris had turned purple and her pupils blurred a little, making her look especially eerie. The environment changed just a little for her. Lines ran across it all, shifting, changing based on what she focused on. Maribel's senses sharpened as she reached out into thin air, creating a plain gap in space as she moved her hand. Her arm would be seen moving a full meter away from her, sticking out of the other end of the gap. She noticed she was being especially attentive, almost as if she could react faster than she used to.

"Not like any quirk I've seen before." Fumikage commented. In response, Maribel pulled her hand out of the gap, collapsing it the moment after. He looked at Maribel and materialized a black and avian shape around himself, two yellow eyes making themselves visible along with it as it hovered behind him. "This is Dark Shadow."

"Should I say hello?" Maribel asked sarcastically and briefly glanced into his eyes. Her eyes earned a reaction from Fumikage, forcing him to become a little stressed, the shadow growled a little as a result. "I'll continue warming up a little." She then said and tilted her head a little in his direction and received a nod from him. She reached out and focused for a second, creating a large hallway-spanning gap to the hall just outside the door that was placed just two meters away from them. A conscious blink was made by her and the gap collapsed on itself, instantaneously reappearing under her and letting her drop straight into the hallway. Unprepared for the drop, she folded her legs a little as she landed and almost lost her balance. Her legs straightened out along with the rest of her body, she put a finger to her chin and entered a state of thought. _I should probably learn to do something about the drop, needs to be more seamless..._ She didn't move for around 80 seconds. _I've an idea._

The owner of Boundary Manipulation had previously noted she had some issue using her quirk beyond activating her eyes. Her ability to manipulate the boundaries was something she could do, but it was a technique. It didn't come naturally and put her at a bit of a disadvantage. Just recently, in the night, had she felt it come like owner of Boundary Manipulation had previously noted she had some issue using her quirk beyond activating her eyes. Maribel swung her left arm out in front of her in a particularly chuuni fashion. A rip in the fabric of reality was created right down under her, coupled with another that would lead to the next position. The boundary girl dropped three decimeters or so. Maintaining her stance, whilst the other gap moved from just a few decimeters to beyond her length in a split second, giving the appearance of teleporting. _Maybe if I moved both points in perfect level with the ground..._

Wha-... That was sudden." Fumikage almost yelped in surprise as she reappeared right next to him, a drop of sweat finding itself on his head. The gaps collapsed in on themselves, giving the appearance of being torn apart and disappearing along the place they lead to. Maribel could see boundaries distort unlike anybody else. Her common sense gave her the idea that overbearing these boundaries might be bad, it aligns a little with what that baku said. But how would she know? She'd gotten a lot better at manipulating these things, but she never bothered looking at the distortions, in fact, she has never noticed them earlier.

"Hmm." Maribel looked in the general direction of Fumikage, but not directly at him as to avoid the effect her eyes had. Her voice suddenly turned a little more sinister. "All Might told us to act like villains-"

 **"The indoor anti-personnel training between Team B and Team C can now START!"** All Might's voice reverberated throughout the building, and probably outside of it too, through a set of speakers. Cutting off Maribel mid sentence, she looked back at the door.

Both of them sighed, and Maribel told him what she was gonna do one last time. "I'm going in. I'll retreat if they become too bothersome, capturing me won't work." Her words carried some confidence. She flicked her wrist and created a set of gaps, forcing them into motion and effectively teleporting her into position at the labyrinth just outside.

* * *

Maribel feet touched the ground heel first and rolled on it, letting her foot touch the ground softly. The absolutely minimum of a sound for a footstep was made and stealth was achieved. Maribel wandered until she got bored, it was like there was nobody coming, nobody she could hear anyway. She stood breathing by a window, bathing her in bright white light, completing her contrast against the gray halls. She stood put for two minutes, but a thought would come to her.

 _How stupid am I? I don't have to be close to them to hear them._ Maribel scolded herself. She raised her head and imagination gave birth to a gap located just beside her ear, picking up any sounds that the other end was close to. As if flipping through a book, she waved slightly with her hand to help her impulse and move the other end of the gap around the halls. _Nothing on the floor below, the third..._ Maribel's interested was piqued. A set of small, rapid and incredibly soft footsteps could be heard briefly along with softer, heavier footsteps and something swinging along through the air. _They're here, finally..._ Hearn destroyed the gap she was using. Maribel turned and walked back to the labyrinth, stationing herself behind the second turn of the first hallway to prevent her clothing from being seen.

Eventually, she heard him come, but whatever was swinging with him earlier wasn't there. He whined as he ran up the hallway, muttering "Why'd she have to send me in first?!" with anger, frustration and rejection. She recognized the voice. He was the little guy from earlier today, somebody who irritated her a lot. To think he stood in her way just to get that kind of costume, almost insulting. She frowned.

 _While I have a course of action, it's likely she does too._ Anger swelled up inside of her for reasons unknown, she never felt so easily angered like this, at least not up until recently. A deep sigh escaped her, soothing her for now. A little sound was picked up in her ears, not as frequent as the tiny hero, it didn't sound like footsteps. Her attention snapped to the hallway. She created a tiny gap just beyond her eye, its transparent edges making it look more like a spontaneously created mirror. Through it she would be able to spy down the hall with her eye without stepping out of cover. Momo was approaching at a steady pace in pursuit of Mineta's echoing voice, an iron pole in her hand. Then she passed away from the window.

She felt tense and adrenaline started to course through her. Maribel created another gap and let her upper torso pass through. From behind Yaoyorozu she would raise her right arm silently and clench her fist, grit her teeth and furrow her brows. Then she attacked, socking her in the back. "Gyah!" Momo yelped as she was knocked away from Maribel, barely catching herself with her iron bo staff. Hearn's gap expanded, and she left it, appearing behind Momo.

Momo shot to her feet and swung the pole in a wide arc and struck Maribel in the side. Her target gasped as it impacted her waist and stumbled back. The boundary girl's shoes gripped the ground and twisted her body around a little to regain her footing. She retaliated against Momo with her right fist, clearly out of range and then inexplicably closing the distance through a gap. Yaoyorozu was dazed with a clean hit to her gut. The arm was withdrawn, and the gap collapsed upon itself. Maribel held her side and almost keeled over, from under her stainless blouse there was a hint of blood and bruising. "That... hurt... A lot..." She fumed with the same fury she found herself suppressing earlier.

Maribel's opponent breathed heavily, but picked herself up faster than Maribel. "...You're pretty strong." Momo replied back, assuming an actual fighting posture with bojutsu.

"Tch." _I think I know how to get past._ Maribel raised her arm and Momo shot forth to her surprise. Her legs began pushing, but there was no time to move, she could only think.

 _I'll bind-_

She thought, creating a gap right in the middle of the bo staff to her surprise. A little startled by her own capability, her focus was lost and it collapsed, cleaving the rod in half before it could reach her.

Momo's staff halved and the portion she was going to use to strike Maribel flew off and onto the ground, rolling on over. Yaoyorozu was caught completely by surprise as Maribel smacked her in the face, grunting as she was sent back. Hearn's mind briefly focused on the staff now laying on the ground and made it fall through a gap and right into her hands. She held it in her right hand like a baton and readied herself for Momo's next approach. Despite being stressed out, focusing with her quirk was as clear as day and especially compared to the entrance exam. "You should be running off, you will never capture me."

"Catch!" The wielder of the Creation quirk grabbed something behind herself and caught Maribel off-guard as she threw it in the midst of her words. What turned out to be a flashbang detonated. Hearn flinched and was bathed in light, no longer able to see the visible spectrum, there were only boundaries. Her body was blasted back a couple of feet, only barely keeping herself standing. With only the slightest visual senses and particularly ones she wasn't used to perceiving the environment with. Her weapon was struck away from her, followed with a staff hitting her chest hard enough to make her spit out a bunch of saliva. Maribel was grappled and forced into a hard hitting take down, hitting the ground with her along with a smack.

It wasn't long before Hearn tried to get back up, but Momo smacked her arm with the staff or what remained of it. "Don't you move..." Maribel heard faintly among the ringing and stopped moving.

 _Damn it, I can't see..._ Maribel felt her eyes were especially irritated and had closed them. There was one thing she could still see and those were the boundaries that made up the environment and the world, but she wasn't used to using it as her visual sensory so it was of no use. _This is absolutely embarrassing, I have to retreat!_ Maribel thought and flicked her wrist, prompting herself to form a gap right below her.

"Wait!" Momo yelled out. But it was too late to capture her, Maribel Hearn fell through the gap, which then rose in succession, enveloping her and collapsing on itself a moment thereafter.

* * *

"So you had to retreat. Looks like we'll have to fight them off." Tokoyami stated with some disappointment, looking back at the door.

Maribel could see again, albeit her vision was littered with annoying afterimages. She had gotten up and sat down on one of the emptied oil barrels. "Yeah." I'm thinking of just making the doorway lead right back to the first floor and outside, but that wouldn't be much for combat training... She groaned. "Let's get ready..." Maribel spoke harshly and jumped onto her feet. She tried to focus despite the disorientation brought to her by that flash grenade earlier. _Unfocused... and focused..._ Hearn thought about the different sides of focus. Is that a _boundary I can manipulate or is just subjective? Hmm._

 _Norihito Sumitomo - Dragon Ball Super OST Vol.2 - The Power to Resist_

The villains heard footsteps outside and reacted accordingly. Maribel raised her fists in a simple fighting stance while Fumikage let loose Dark Shadow. Then the door would shoot open, followed by a black cylindrical object being thrown almost right at Tokoyami and a couple of black balls. Dark Shadow started to lunge, but Maribel knew what it was and braced herself by closing her eyes and moving out of the concussive radius with her gap. "Tokoyami!" She yelled out to shift his attention, but it was too late. It detonated and showered everyone in the room with a bright light. Hearn just barely escaped the full brunt of it and opened her eyes to see Fumikage and Dark Shadow reeling back. Maribel quickly approached.

There was the little boy. He irritated her particularly. Where are you looking? She thought as she stared at her in particular, not at her eyes, but at her chest. _The nerve..._ Maribel indulged in the irrational behavior that had recently sprung into her mind and frowned. "What are you looking at?" She asked in an angered voice. Mineta's eyes met hers out of instinct and startled him completely. Hearn was just about to move in when Momo charged right at Maribel, taking extra care not to step on the balls strewn across the ground. _It's clear she's avoiding them..._ She noted and landed a blow right through a gap to Momo's throat, stopping her dead in her tracks and making her cough violently in the aftermath. Instead of approaching her this time, Maribel grabbed Momo's arm with strength that was superior to hers.

Immediately as it came, Momo tried to rotate her arm and iron bo around to smack Maribel's arm and pull away. But with the same flow as her attack, another hand shot forth through a gap to grasp her staff, stopping her dead in her tracks. Maribel raised her leg and slipped out of her gap, appearing before Momo and then kicking her right in the stomach in quick succession. Yaoyorozu's grip on the staff was lost, and Maribel immediately retaliated by pulling it over to her with her left hand while she tossed Momo past the balls and right into her teammate. Much to her surprise, Maribel didn't know she was this strong, how strange.

"Gnngh..." Yaoyorozu groaned as she picked herself up. Mineta looked kind of clobbered and wasn't getting back up. When Maribel looked back at Momo, she looked bewildered.

"...What's the matter?" Hearn asked with a mildly condescending tone. This irritable feeling kept rising within her. It was felt especially when her quirk was active. _I should talk with the nurse or something..._ She thought and took a deep breath, dispelling her brash attitude as if it were dust, for now.

"I-It's just that..." Momo stood on two feet. Maribel swung the iron bo to point at her, but the distance between them was a little over two meters. "You were really fast..." Yaoyorozu wheezed. Maribel shot forth, taking a short leap to go overhead any of the balls, gripped tight with both her hands and swung the iron bo diagonally from the side in an attempt to hit Momo in her waist without regard for technique. Yaoyorozu pushed herself away to the side, allowing her to narrowly escape the attack. Hearn almost spun from the momentum in her attack but immediately started reorienting herself when she missed. Momo pulled at something by her leg and Maribel proceeded to immediately retaliate and try to thrust at her shoulder. The hero team's girl created another bo staff that she would immediately raise diagonally above her head to block the attack in time. She skid a little before counterattacking, spinning her staff around clockwise and bringing it out of Maribel's guard.

Surprisingly Maribel was capable of reacting to this sudden move, it was easily predictable even and she tried moving her staff to block just like how Momo did. Maribel managed to just cover her head and the staff struck her right in the shoulder, forcing her back with excruciating pain. Hearn's right hand let go of her staff and Momo went in for the attack. Sweeping right into the side of Maribel's head only for her staff to be blocked by Maribel's forearm. The villain could do nothing but cringe in pain as her forearm was dislocated by the iron rod. Maribel stumbled to the side, taking her eyes off her target for the moment.

Momo suddenly crouched a little and brought her bo staff up in a kung fu staff poke, hitting Hearn square in the abdomen. "Gnrgh!" She cried out as the battering continued. Barely realigning herself as her anger and stress caught up with her. Yaoyorozu's expression was filled with energy. She was full of adrenaline. She suddenly brought the staff behind herself, most of the length behind and above her shoulder and then sent it swinging right at Hearn's head.

"GNRAH!" Hearn threw her own rod with her right hand, pushing her leg against the ground to close the distance between them. The rods collided, cushioning the momentum of Momo's telegraphed strike. Maribel thought for just a split second and brought her hand right to Yaoyorozu's wrist through a gap in a burst of motion. She immediately clenched her fist around it and pulled a little. There was a faint popping sound in her ears before she let go and brought her arm up, swiping her opponent straight in the gut. Sending her down to the floor in one swift combination. Maribel left her gap and just stood and stared for a bit as Momo squirmed on the ground. Her breathing became heavy as mild nausea slowly kicked in only for her equipment to nullify it. _I'm definitely reacting faster..._

Hearn started at Momo, focusing. It was then that Yaoyorozu produced another flashbang out of her skin, pulling it from her pained arm and throwing it at Maribel. "No." Hearn stated defiantly. A gap was created, splitting into the space it occupied and then collapsing upon itself, cleaving it in half. The charge spilled out in mid air, rendering it neutralized. Her focus shifted once more to Yaoyorozu who was quickly enveloped in a larger gap, the entry and exit spread a few centimeters away from each other. Maribel imagined that they would bend in on themselves, connecting the two points in space through something akin to a wormhole. The warped space inside swiftly turned into a pure black, only containing what passed through it. Hearn loosened her focus on the gap, forcing it to shrink until it tightly restrained Momo inside of a warped space. The villain stood with her mouth agape as she continued panting, she was excited, it felt like her ability was limitless. _It just works!_

"Aha!" An impish little voice yelled out from behind her. She was just about to shift her weight around to turn, but she was stuck to the ground and almost fell. Instead, she turned her head in stead. He ran away as quickly as he attacked, she saw it was Mineta, but it didn't matter. Fumikage retaliated in her stead with Dark Shadow, acting almost in synchronization as they batted him to the ground, he looked unconscious. Her eyes went back to Fumikage, attention tsill going about maintaining the gap she had created.

 _Song End_

"You okay?" She asked the stumbling Tokoyami.

"Disoriented." He would kneel down. Dark Shadow shielded him as he did. After they both had taken some time to breathe, Dark Shadow distanced itself and Fumikage tried to stand up properly.

"Hm." Maribel let out before sighing to herself. She briefly used a little of her focus to create a gap from inside and into the outside the ball under her right foot. She 'let go' of her focus on it and cleaved it in half, splattering blood and liquid all over the ground under the foot as she tried taking a step. It creeped her out, but there was no time for being scared right now. Her eyes moved to the other one under her foot and repeated the same action. Popping it like a balloon with a lot of blood just spilling out under her legs. Staining her shoes. _I'm ending this now._ Her face was filled with determination.

Hearn swung her weight around and shot over to Mineta, grabbing him with her left hand and immediately swinging her weight around again. Her proportions giving her a nice, albeit barely noticeable bounce. There was something that interrupted her just before she could complete what she was going to do.

" **Villain Team, WINS!** " The speakers let out, All Might putting it short and clearly.

Fumikage walked on over next to her, she lowered Mineta to the ground and dropped her focus on the wormhole gap entirely. She thought that due to its construction, the warping in space would most likely just leave Momo to drop down onto the ground. And she turned her eyes to see as an incomprehensible mess was created for a split second before Momo shot right into the ground with a thud. "Aha... Oh. Well, are YOU okay?" Maribel asked Yaoyorozu as Tokoyami this time would walk on over to get back onto her feet. Hearn looked back at Mineta and remembered that her quirk was still focused. She closed her eyes to focus and turn her eyes back to normal.

Maribel was interrupted again as someone shot straight to her, she opened her eyes right away to see Mineta snuggle right into her chest. She blushed furiously and tossed him away haphazardly before he could use his quirk to stick to her. He flew right into the hands of All Might, who had gotten to the top floor in no time at all.

"It's time to go back and look at the results!" He smiled at them all like some old grandpa. Maribel closed her eyes and focused again, now caught in a dominating presence. She took a deep breath, calming herself and found most of the boundaries fading away from her vision, returning into a foreground that was far more recognizable to her. Her eyes opened to reveal her natural golden eyes. It felt like she was drooling, so she ran a finger across her lip to clean it up. It was blood. Then, slowly but surely, the pain in her right arm kicked in.

"I think I'll have to get my wrist put back into place." Yaoyorozu told All Might as she walked on up to him.

All Might balanced his chin against his finger and thought, clearly concerned. Letting Mineta back down onto the ground.

"I think I'll have to go too..." Maribel told him too. Earning her some eyes. This made her feel pressured, especially with All Might around. So she hurried to untie the ribbon around her waist after reaching around with her left hand and fiddling around a little. Not moving her right arm an inch. She dragged it off and loosened her surcoat a little, then reaching on up to the zipper at the base of her neck and pulling it open. Maribel tried to remove it. Pulling her left arm under and then pulling it over her head, but it wasn't that easy due to her right arm being dislocated. She winced and let out a series of "Ow!"s before she successfully unequipped it. Her blouse wasn't stained with blood due to the stainless cloth it was made of. Still a clear red gash around her waist could be seen under it. And her condition, in general, became much clearer to everyone.

Mineta gave her a thumbs up. "Nice." And it did nothing but make her disappointed.

"I'll see you both get to recovery girl." The teacher promised them. "Now, let's get back and review this battle."

The students grouped up and followed the teacher out of the room and down each floor. It took a while for anybody to speak anything again beyond Tokoyami telling Mineta to leave 'them' alone occasionally.

"I didn't get to see much due to the flashbang. But if you fought them all off on your own despite being so hurt, I am impressed." Fumikage told Maribel formally, almost out of nowhere and just before they would exit the building.

"Thanks. I... Uh... Felt a little out of it when I went through all that, got kind of angry. Eh..." Hearn blushed when met with such praise. Right now she was holding her side with her left arm to block the wound. Suddenly they would exit the building with All Might in front, showering her in light again, natural light. It irritated her, but not as much as her pained arm did.

All Might stopped and they did too.

"Huh?" Hearn let out and moved her head to look up at him.

Momo did the same whilst Tokoyami just turned his eyes to look at him.

"Despite your wounds, it'd be best if you changed. Can you make to the bus together?" All Might asked them, concerned but not wavering in his smile.

"Yeah... Yeah. I think so." Maribel said, almost feeling weak just by standing next to him.

"I'd say the same." Momo said with far more confidence than her former enemy.

All Might gave them a thumbs up. "Then you should get going, young gals." His students nodded and they walked away together, Yaoyorozu helping Hearn along. In the meantime, Mineta and Tokoyami returned to the monitor room with All Might to review the results.

"Do you think you'll be alright with all that bleeding?" Momo asked as Maribel leaned on her on their way back to the changing room. Hearn was just two centimeters taller than her.

"I'm sure of it, don't get so caught up on my condition, you're hurt too." She glanced at her classmate. Maribel thought back to the weird anger that kept coming back to her. She'd have to tell the nurse about it. _It's a lot like manic syndrome._


	7. Databook: Maribel Hearn (Chapter 6)

**MARIBEL HEARN**

 **A little gloomy, but is quick to try and make friends.**  
 **Mystified by her own quirk.**

Her quirk used to give her nightmares, but as she discovered what it could do, she began to cast away her fear. Maribel came with her dad from overseas at the age of 4, their family name dates back at least 300 years. The girl is mildly attracted to status, believing it to be something to aim for and directing any envy she may find towards overcoming her perceived inadequacy.

"I am Maribel Hearn, but just call me Merry, it's easier to pronounce."

 **Personal Data**

Currently Attending: UA Hero High School Class 1-A

Previous School: Shinrin Junior High School

Birthday: March 3

Height: 175 cm

Blood type: O

Birthplace: Western Europe

Favorites: Watching The Moon, Tea

Fighting Style: Improvised

Hero Stats

 **Power - 4/5 - B**

 **Speed - 4/5 - B**

 **Technique - 3/5 - C**

 **Intelligence - 4/5 - B**

 **Cooperativeness - 3/5 - C**

Words from an _acquaintance_ — Doremy Sweet

"One of the more mysterious youkai I've gotten to know. She's a little awkward in how she responds and is quite reckless too, she must be young. And her ability reminds me a little of one of the moon princesses, it is great that she's not as powerful or troubling."

* * *

 **QUIRK: BOUNDARY MANIPULATION**

 **Mystical Feelings**

A carryover from her relatives despite the mutated state of her quirk, she can feel the spiritual presence of objects and people, quirks especially. It has given her a mighty dislike of Lycoris and other creepy things.

 **Her iris becomes an eerie purple, making her see the boundaries of the world!**

This emitter quirk can create portals in space-time and even manipulate the boundaries of dreams with a range almost unheard of! It seems like it makes her mysteriously stronger, quicker and more in tune with her environment too. Currently it seems that the quirk is growing in power on its own and especially when it becomes night, it is unusual.

 **The boundaries have their own limits and her quirk does too!**

When overburdened, the boundaries that she manipulated will become fuzzy and unrecognizable for a while, making them harder to control. The quirk has its own limits too and overstepping it induces headaches and nausea, even bleeding from the mouth if pushed beyond that. It seems that as long as the quirk is active, she will become more manic.

 **HERO NAME: Undecided**

 **Hero Suitability**

 **Self-Centered and Risk Taking**  
Her personal reason for becoming a hero is particularly self-centered around growing as a person. She doesn't actively seek heroism and may endanger lightly if she believes she can learn from it.

 **Inventive and Adaptive**  
She has a keen eye for spotting issues and adapting to enemy strategies, as well as quickly improvising new ways of using her quirk. Her belief in decisive victory gears her toward a more strategic mindset, even if she doesn't always get to show it.

* * *

 **Here's a little trivia section. I'm actually very attentive to detail when I'm writing this stuff, why? It makes the story interesting.**

 **When I started writing the fic, Maribel created 'cracked' gaps that looked much like fractures, they had an almost uncontrollable shape. When that night came, she figured out and felt how to control it, thus leading to more controlled gaps that could be round, or oval for example. I have also explicitly referred to Maribel's gaps as 'windows' and 'plain', this is because they are not black, glowing purple or filled with eyes, they are not like Yukari's. That's something she will develop eventually however, and it'll be a milestone.**

 **You might also be wondering why she's getting stronger or getting angry and reckless the longer she sees the boundaries, and I think you've figured it out by now. Maribel is ever so slowly drifting away from humanity and her 'quirk' is the catalyst of that. A peer boundary manipulator, namely Yukari, could stop a fully grown man swinging a weapon with a single finger, casually. As for her behavior, she is 'young' in a specific sense and is a little unstable because of that. In general she has not even dipped her feet into the pool yet, she'll start doing much more than just opening portals as time goes.**


	8. Chapter 7: The Developing Quirk

The bus rode throughout the roads covering the vast campus, en route to main building. It would usually take a couple of minutes before it reached the destination, but it felt like it took ages for the boundary girl. There was a reason why the school could cover so much land and that was the population reduction that the country had gone through the last century. Whilst technological development slowed, fertility sunk for a time and made land both cheaper and far more available. Like so the government and private corporations, private persons and so forth had easier access. Maribel knew there were people, heroes even, who owned entire woodlands. Right now it was nothing but an annoyance to her.

"So what was your strategy?" Yaoyorozu questioned Maribel, in reference to the mock battle. After changing out of their hero costumes, she had been kind enough to create some bandages for Maribel to use on the waist wound that had been inflicted.

"I told Tokoyami-san that I would stall at least one of you. In truth it was more about learning what you could accomplish and teach myself how to work in a tight spot... It didn't go all that well. But I learnt a new trick or two." Maribel thought back to the battle. There were some interesting things she discovered. The ability to generate a gap inside of an object and then dispelling it so that the object splits, how she could move by moving her gaps. _Warping space around something inside of my gaps led to strange things, maybe I could-_

"Despite being a reckless action, risking yourself so you could learn about the enemy is a clever move. It was the sole reason you could dodge the second flash bang and finish the battle." Momo complimented her. She was about to say something but Maribel cut her off before she could let out a sound.

"Yeah, but there was a big mistake after I did that. I... Didn't tell him about what you could do." Hearn critiqued herself, looking particularly disappointed and bonking herself on the head.

"I was just about to mention that, but don't feel bad. Everyone should learn from their mistakes." Momo gave her a pat on the back.

"Well, you're right." Maribel's mood lightened and she straightened out a little, looking at Yaoyorozu.

She gave a friendly smirk back. "You we're really quick too, I couldn't even react to that kick of yours."

"Well, it was something I improvised." Maribel revealed. "A new development, before, I had to create it and lure people into it. My true aim was to bind the staff like I did with you later on." She scratched herself behind her neck. "Eh... I wasn't going to succeed with that in the middle of an attack anyway, at least I learned something."

"That was good play anyway. I'd say you learned more about the basics of battle from attacking me head-on than you would have from letting my plan go through." Yaoyorozu replied. "I would've snatched the victory if you didn't know about my flash grenades."

Maribel thought back on her mistakes and decided to state what she was thinking. "I think it was a little unfair to leave everything to me. I'll make sure my teammate makes it through if we're ever doing team battles again." With a critical look on her face. Opening up a little, she turned to Momo and gave her back all the encouragement she just gave her, smiling. "You had far better teamwork than I did. That strategy of yours was far more sophisticated than what I came up with. You made decoys so that we couldn't dodge the flashbang conventionally and if I hadn't engaged you earlier, you would've won right then and there." And ended her short little speech with a thumbs up.

"Yeah! You were pretty amazing yourself." Momo became particularly upbeat, but she was interrupted as the bus stopped. In their distraction they had finally arrived. They got out of the bus and walked into the main building of U.A High. They got out of it and began to walk towards the building, in the meanwhile the bus would start up again and silently turn and drive right back.

"Mind supporting me again? It's a little painful to move around with a wounded waist." Maribel Hearn asked her friend.

"It's alright, don't worry." Momo Yaoyorozu let her lean on her with her left side as they went on their way to the Nurse's Office.

* * *

"I am Chiyo Shuenzji. The youthful heroine, Recovery Girl." The nurse introduced herself.

"My forearm is dislocated, and I have a bleeding wound around my waist." Maribel told of her wounds and nodded to Momo in a way of telling her to do the same. Pointing at her dislocated joint with her left hand.

"I've gotten a few bruises, and my right wrist is dislocated." Her friend spoke up in succession and lift up the arm with the wrist.

The nurse gave them some looks before kindly requesting. "Take off your coats."

Both of the students gave each other a look. "Yes, mam!" They both said in unison, paused and giggled a little.

Maribel unbuttoned her coat and started taking it off. It was a pain for her due to her arm, but she managed to pull it off. Hanging it on a hook by the door. What was left on was the uniform's tie and the shirt under it. She began to pull it up a little, so she could unwrap the bandages if Recovery Girl wanted to inspect the wound.

Her friend undid the buttons on her shirt and pulled it off with considerable ease when compared to Maribel and hanging it beside Hearn's coat.

Chiyo inspected Maribel's condition. "Could you remove the bandage?"

"It might be a little hard to remove it with my arm being like this." Hearn said.

"I'll help!" Momo enthusiastically said as she went on over to pull the bandaging off. Hearn pulled her shirt up a little further. With her wounded wrist, she went around Maribel repeatedly to remove the bloodied bandaging. When she was done, she would briefly inspect it before bunching it up and throwing it in the trash bin by the door.

"Thanks." Maribel thanked Yaoyorozu.

Chiyo Shuenzji gave Maribel's arm a look and then stared at her wound for a good ten seconds. "Hmm. This should be manageable, but you might feel a little drowsy after this. Could you kneel down?" She analyzed and then asked. Maribel would kneel before her, preventing her from dying her shirt with blood. Recovery Girl's lips suddenly shot from her mouth, stretching her skin in the process. It made Maribel feel uncomfortable. Chiyo's lips kissed her forehead and suddenly healed her arm. Causing it to lodge itself back into place in a particularly uncomfortable way and forcing Maribel into pain for a few moments. It was surprising to her that it ended so quickly and her waist wound healed immediately thereafter.

Maribel stood up and simply said to herself. Briefly looking around and muttering "I need some paper..." To herself, she then looked back at the nurse and gave her thanks. "That was quick, good work." Then she shuffled on over to the nurse's desk and grabbed some paper from a roll. Starting to clean up the blood left on her skin in the wake of her wound. Rolling down the shirt after she was done.

Momo had it easier without any bandages to pull off. She simply reached out with her dislocated wrist and let the nurse do her work. Any and all bruises ceased their existence, and her wrist got back into place, it was far less painful than it was for Maribel.

Recovery Girl stepped back. "And there you go, you girls." She said, getting back onto her chair.

 _I suppose she'll log our visit._ Maribel thought. "I'd like to speak with you alone, it's a personal thing." She requested, looking on over to Momo by the end of her sentence.

"Right. I'll see you back at the classroom, Merry."

"You too." Hearn smiled back at her and then looked on over to Recovery Girl as Yaoyorozu left the room and closed the door behind her, taking her coat with her.

Recovery Girl made a gesture to a chair adjacent to her that caught Maribel's attention. She looked right at her. "Take a seat." Chiyo said.

"Ah, right." Hearn walked over to the chair and settled herself down. "I wanted to talk about something I've started noticing with my quirk, now that I've pushed its limits a bit. How do I put this...?" The nurse turned her chair to Maribel and leaned in. "I noticed that I came to be very irritable when I use my quirk for long, a little manic even. Even sunlight irritates me if I stay in the dark for too long. I'm starting to think I might have to phone it in and update my quirk registration. It might sound unusual, but all I've really been doing recently is understand what my quirk can actually do." She spoke about her quirk, clearly serious, but keeping her cool.

The old lady pondered. "When dealing with your health it's good not to leave anything out. You have good judgement." She paused briefly. "The change isn't too out of the ordinary and as U.A is funded by the government and run under its jurisdiction. I can tell them to update your quirk registration for you."

"Really? That's a relief; I felt a little afraid to approach them. My quirk's been a little strange recently, probably because I've learned how to do more with it." Maribel admitted with some embarrassment. She felt kind of cowardly despite what she pulled off earlier today.

"Sounds like it might be the effects of quirk training." Chiyo stated, being far more knowledgeable on quirks than Maribel was.

Maribel was caught a little off guard. "Quirk training? Do quirks work like muscles?"

Recovery Girl offered her some trivia. "In a sense, the more you use your quirk the more used your body gets to it. Your quirk factor can be developed through constant and strenuous use of your quirk's biological and other functions. In addition, most quirks have a pretty low ceiling for their growth."

"That makes sense. Well..." She agreed and stood up. "Thank you for your time, sensei." Then walking on over to get her uniform's coat back on, buttoning it up and opening the door. Waving at the nurse just before she left.

* * *

On the way to the classroom, she saw Izuku being rolled past her in an emergency bed, held by two mini conveyor-bots. Maribel didn't often get to see this level of technology in action, but she couldn't say she didn't enjoy it. He looked pretty hurt though, must've come into a scuffle with one of the big boys. It didn't take long to get back to the classroom and walk inside. She and Momo talked mostly about casual things, many minutes passed without them noticing.

"Give me money!" Hearn joked with Yaoyorozu, sounding completely humorous and jolly.

She became a little apologizing. "Sorry, my dad's not paying today!"

At the sound of footsteps, Yaoyorozu turned her head to the entrance, and Maribel did the same, equipping a poker face. By the doorway stood Katsuki Bakugo, he looked a little sad, but Hearn didn't think much of it.

"...So, is the class over?" Maribel asked him. This was followed by him walking on up to them with a new, malicious demeanor.

Bakugo eyed them both all of a sudden and burst out in a fit of rage, sounding almost desperate as he did. It was not like the time back at the tests with Aizawa. "You're pathetic, destroying your limbs over some dumb exercise! I don't care how strategic any of you are, both of you are losers!"

Yaoyorozu looked kind of taken aback by it, but Maribel only felt irritated. _He barges right up to me just to berate me!_ _I've only been in a battle twice, does it look like I'm some genius who comes up with complex strategies on the spot? I'm only applying what I've read._ She thought as her expression was filled with disgust. Furrowing her brows, she extended her hand and pointed at him. It was then that she talked back to him. "This was the second 'real' fight I've been in. You expect me to be some expert?"

"If you aren't even prepared for this shit, then why do you even want to be a hero?!" He continued, getting very close to her. The way he sounded made her feel like he was just letting off steam, but it didn't matter, he had made her very angry.

"I go to a school to learn, idiot!" Maribel growled back at him. Her quirk activated, turning her eyes in an eerie purple sight. Bakugo raised his right hand and began to flare smaller explosions from it as to intimidate her. She immediately took notice of this and created a gap right by his limb and bound him in the same instance. She was a little surprised by how fast she acted now that she was rested. The other classmates had arrived on time to witness this.

"Gngh!" He grimaced angrily and smacked the side of her face with a smaller explosion, messing up her hair and forcing her back a little. Not about to back down, she burst through the smoke and ran her eyes across his other free hand, restraining him short order. Maribel shuffled to the side so that he could not hit her anymore. All he could do was struggle as the warped boundaries kept him in place, he could move, but not much and he could not target her anymore. "Let go of me you ghost-eyed bitch!"

"Shut up! I could take your hands off right now!" Hearn snapped at him and slapped him across the face. Yaoyorozu grabbed Maribel by the shoulder and tried to pull her back. But she was resolute in her attempt to wail on Bakugo and a little too strong for Momo. So it wasn't until someone went past her victim to grab her that she was finally distanced from him. She glanced to her right to let her know it was Tenya Iida who had intervened. Chatter had erupted from the rest of the class as this occurred.

"Calm down everyone!" Tenya commanded the class. Maribel took a deep breath but refused to deactivate her quirk right now. "What's the matter here?" He asked Maribel.

Her eyes drifted to the ground, and she took another deep breath, returning to a normal mental state. "He barged in to call us pathetic losers because we were injured during the lesson." She stared at Tenya with a frown. Since her quirk was still active, he had to quickly avert his gaze to Bakugo. Katsuki was now engaging in a hotblooded conversation with a red-haired boy, Maribel remembered seeing him wearing nothing to cover his chest, something she perceived as stupid.

"Merry, let go of him." Iida told her, and she was calm enough to comply. Her quirk deactivated suddenly, by getting rid of her gaps she sent forth a small burst of the wind around his hands, blowing them back and putting him off balance for some moments. Taking notice of this effect, she kept looking at him right in the eye as his friend stopped him from falling over. Then he stared at her, clearly vexed. They maintained eye contact for some time, but eventually Maribel felt it was uncomfortable in a very strange way and removed her eyes from him. _That's right... Ah, oh... I guess it doesn't work with my quirk activated though._ When she looked back at him again, he had walked away with the redhead, taking their distance from her, Tenya and Momo.

She was let go of and the boundary girl turned around to face both Momo and Tenya. She began to try to fix her hair with her hands, but it wasn't of much help. "Sorry... I feel very... off today." Maribel said with a defeated expression. "Why'd he go and do that anyway?"

Tenya leaned in on her and responded silently, as if to conceal the information he was about to give her. "He ditched me in the battle and lost the match in his attempt to go after Midoriya." Which confused Maribel a little. Getting so close to him didn't help as it just made her feel nervous. She took a step back.

"Feels like he has a grudge against that boy who keeps breaking his arms. He's at the nurses' office right now." She asked.

Tenya lightened up a little. "He injured himself to win the match with the help of Ochaco's gravity quirk. Craftier than people give him credit for."

Momo cut into the conversation. "Sounds like he made use of the rules. If it was a real battle, you wouldn't be so callous. He shouldn't have abandoned you in that fight."

"Indeed, he shouldn't." Tenya agreed.

" **I AM HERE!** " A familiar figure strode through the room, everyone's eyes darted to the doorway. The sky had been slowly darkening with the early sundown of this season and made him look much more imposing. "Firstly..." He said and immediately appeared in front of Maribel, Momo and Tenya. Hearn instantly felt his presence and was almost paralyzed by it, the passive ability to sense with her quirk being the reason. Yelping, she stumbled right into Tenya, who managed to catch her before she would fall over. "Ah, there's no need to be scared." He snickered a little and waved a hand in front of himself, looking a bit more friendlier than before. "-I'm going to go over the result of your battle, since you couldn't be there when I did it with the rest of your teams."

Yaoyorozu nodded confidently and Maribel did so nervously. The rest of the class gathered around, some sat by their desks, some stood near them and a few stragglers stood away from the forming circle. "The best in this match was young Hearn." He said, there was some surprise, he probably hadn't announced it before. Maribel was unsurprised, however, her strategy was effective after all, even if Momo had thought through hers a lot better.

"That's not to say that young Yaoyorozu hadn't thought through her attack well. But Hearn devised a proper counter strategy where she learned what her opponent could do. Thanks to that she was able to nullify the hero team's assault. I noticed she learnt to do some new things during it all. Both of the teams played to their strengths, but Hearn's traps allowed her and Tokoyami's victory without risking the warhead's condition. Contrast it with the performance of Team A in the subsequent fight." He explained passionately, displaying a fine knowledge of battle. _To notice how I learned, he must have some good eyes..._ Maribel thought, feeling weighed down by his presence. She just stood there with her mouth agape for a few moments before straightening out.

Hearn then bowed lightly and exclaimed "T-Thank you so much, sir!" Only to be greeted by a laugh from the teacher. Unused to this behavior, she assumed a normal posture and just looked at him.

All Might stopped laughing and said "Now, I think it's about time to end this day of school. The class has ended." and then put two fingers to his forehead, saluting as a way to wave goodbye. " **Have a nice day, kids!** " He yelled out before leaving through the door, everyone's eyes followed him until he instantly vanished about as quickly as he appeared.

* * *

"I hope I'll see you tomorrow!" Waved Momo to Maribel as they departed from the school, their routes to home being entirely separate.

"You too!" Maribel waved back and went on her way. It had taken all of ten footsteps before she was interrupted by a trio of people.

Tenya came to her first. "Hi, Merry." He greeted her. The lighting and the way he said it made it feel all romantic. _What am I thinking?_ "Ah, hi!" She forced out of herself as she continued walking, turning her head to see Ochaco and a bandaged Izuku walking with Tenya. She didn't think of it walking with them as much of an issue.

"So you're Merry, right? The one who helped save me back at the entrance exam?" Was the first thing Izuku Midoriya asked her as she kept her head forwards.

"Unless you were someone else."

Izuku quickly began pushing the conversation, casually. "So what pushed you to take the exam?"

"My quirk is good enough to take the opportunity. It's what my dad and my friends expected of me anyway." Maribel gave a bit of trivia. She felt carefree as it was right now. The sun was going down, how calming.

"So you want to save people, right?"

Maribel replied a little dishonestly, starting to feel a little pressured. "I want to save my fellow people from the troubles of the street, you could say. Can't say it isn't a great opportunity to learn of my quirk either."

"Your quirk was Boundary Manipulation, right? It sounds like such an interesting quirk. Yours is pretty rare, too! There hasn't been a single hero with one in ages!" He began to gush about her quirk. She too, thought it was amazing. But it had its burdens, far more than he could understand.

"It can't make me sleep well at night. I have been tired for as long as I can remember- Or at least, it feels like it." Hearn spoke of her issues.

Izuku thought about what she just said for a little bit. "Does it have something to do with your quirk?"

"Not really. I just have a bad habit with sleeping. It just happens to be something my quirk can't solve." Maribel swayed her head a little, despite initiating the conversation, she didn't want to speak about her dreams and wished to deflect on the issue. _I should just call Renko._ She thought.

Ochaco got closer and decided to uplift her mood. "You did pretty great in that battle, you had a bunch of surprises that even All Might wasn't ready for!"

"To be honest, All Might's a little intimidating! I'm just glad that Iida-san was around for me in the classroom or might've hit the floor..." Her cheeks reddened a little, accompanied by a drop of sweat. It was supposed to be a little tease and an attempt to veer the conversation away from her quirk.

"Ah-" Iida stuttered, Maribel couldn't help but turn to look at him. "I-I do what's best for my classmates! That's all." He looked a lot more flustered than she thought he'd be. She couldn't help but laugh a little to herself.

"Nothing wrong with that. Don't flip out like that!" She said, clearly having fun. Iida nodded and once again adopted his cool demeanor, but kept his red cheeks.

Time passed, Maribel listened to some of the things the others talked about, mostly centered around school work they had received during the day. Eventually, she had an idea of something she could talk about, waiting until there was a little silence. "Did you hear about the revival of JAXA last week?"

"I don't read about that kind of stuff, so I'm afraid not..." Izuku admitted, sounding almost like he cursed himself for it.

"Same." Ochaco agreed with Izuku.

"I happen to have. Do they have any goals?" Iida asked charmingly.

"They are creating the largest space station so far and place it in high earth orbit. It's coming with its own ecosystem as a way of experimenting with terraforming on larger scales." Maribel Hearn explained eagerly, Iida looked intrigued.

"Wasn't the biggest space station in existence that old international project?" Iida inquired.

"The International Space Station? ISS?" Maribel answered.

Iida smiled and continued. "That's the one! It's probably going to take a while to put all of the pieces together to make something even bigger."

"It's not like the pieces are going to be difficult to manufacture. Even in U.A there's a dome of glass that's easily a hundred meters tall and many times that across."

"But they'd have to move it into orbit."

"Hmm, you're right." Maribel admitted and then snickered a little. "Maybe they'd ask All Might to throw it into space once he's high in the atmosphere."

"All Might's strong enough to do it, but I'm not sure he'd like the thin atmosphere." Izuku blurted out.

Maribel let out a "Mhm." in response. "I think I'll have to separate here. I use a different station to get to my part of the city." She said and waved at them, Ochaco in particular since she already understood this. They waved back, smiling as they did and then she would walk down the street to their right.

* * *

"Hi Renko! I met with this weird lady in my dream yesterday and she took me on an adventure through other dreams."

"What the hell do you mean?" Renko asked in a confused manner. Her voice buzzing through Maribel's phone. Whether Maribel liked it or not, she could faintly spot the waves streaming from and to her phone like some sort of shockwave, only much fainter. She thought it was a boundary of frequency, but Hearn never cared to investigate it before, it was the kind of stuff Renko would chatter on endlessly about. It also just so happened that Renko was interested in paranormal things, perhaps further invigorated by the existence of quirks.

"Apparently I manipulated the boundary between me and my dream self, or something like that. Anyway, it made me go to sleep instantly and wake up in my dream. It was a lot clearer than normal, and was a 'real dream' too." Maribel explained as she walked down the street, it was close to her home, but she wasn't quite there yet. "For some reason she said she was a baku and that I was a youkai. Worst of all, she felt really creepy. You know, in the 'my quirk' kind of way, not the normal one."

"Uhh..." Renko sounded very confused by this revelation. Hearn knew they both thought her quirk was confusing, but she probably never expected her to do strange things like entering her own dreams. "So you went into your own dream?"

"No. After I got out of that door realm, I ended up somewhere in orbit-" She heard Renko was about to interrupt her, but she continued before she could say anything. "But as it turns out, this was the 'dream world'. That baku said she was the ruler of that portion of it." Maribel continued explaining with a straight face. The street before her was empty, the alleyways were silent and the sun kept going down. It was a nice sight, but Hearn was recently confused by it all. Every time she had gone home and the sunset began, she began to feel more energetic, peaking towards midnight. Even with this she could enter sleep just fine.

"Hold on. You're saying you met a mythological creature?!" Renko Usami blurted out.

"She said she was, so I suppose?" Maribel answered, suddenly a little unsure of herself. "I actually got to visit some dreams. They were really weird, so I couldn't make sense of them. But I could feel the raw thought of them, a surreal feeling."

"You've been up to a lot recently, haven't you?" Her phone buzzed. "Could we meet on Thursday? My day ends early, and I know it's not on the weekend but you've made me really excited and curious! I just want to see what you can do and write it down, maybe I could start writing a paper on other worlds..." Renko said, she had always been extremely enthusiastic about how things worked and most fascinated by the laws of the universe. The idea of other worlds must've really interested her, and it's not like Maribel couldn't disagree with the notion herself, but she felt a little scared of what she'll do to herself if she really dives into her capabilities.

Despite this, she couldn't help but smile at Renko's words. "Let's do it. Come to my house around 18:00." Maribel suggested. She didn't have anything coming up, so it only had to happen after school.

"Right, I'll add it to my schedule."

"And I'll keep it in mind. See you!" Renko cheerfully ended the conversation.

"You too!" Maribel said, Renko then closed the call. They were both more accustomed to speaking with each other, so only sometimes did they send text messages. Maybe I should start doing that more often? She thought, lowering her phone as her eyes landed on an alley. The weird feeling that prevailed throughout her body didn't let up, and it felt like someone was watching her all the while. Hearn couldn't help but feel a chill up her spine. The silence of the street didn't help. So she decided to get quickly back to her house to end this sudden paranoia.

* * *

Maribel sat by the old desktop computer in her room, surfing the internet. More specifically she sought to brush up on her knowledge on youkai.

The information she found spoke of a creature that protected against pestilence and evil, who was later interpreted as eating nightmares and most likely by extension, dreams. Maribel knew this wasn't likely to tell her who that woman in her dream was, but it was a start. She'd probably be hiding something.What caught Maribel's eye the most was that there was one known as Lafcadio Hearn who recorded all of this by the end of the 1800s. _Right, I had some old books by him._ _I got them from my grandparents. That's pretty coincidental, maybe I could ask my dad sometime? ...It's not important right now._

Hearn decided it was getting late and thus decided to turn off the computer. It didn't take long for her to get undressed and throw her dirty clothes into a bin to be taken to the washing machine tomorrow. She got into her pajamas and laid down on her bed, getting under the sheets. Well, here I go. Maribel closed her eyes, and she could see the boundaries that comprised the room and of what she was perceiving.

After a while, she felt herself becoming tired and entered the first stage of sleep. But with the power of her quirk, she managed to maintain some form of consciousness and perceived the border between her and her dream self. All the boundaries in her vision disappeared except for one that encompassed her, an ethereal shape that she could barely comprehend. And with a little bit of focus, she flipped it.

* * *

Maribel watched the sky in the dream world, while she was not stuck in a low gravity environment anymore, it was just as weird. A sky that was littered with a blue grid as far as she could see. The atmosphere itself took on a bit of a purple hue, but was otherwise very normal. The ground was of grass. It looked realistic, if not like it had been run through a filter. When Doremy had left her there, she had said this was the 'dream earth', no human truly lives here. There were trees around, mountains in the background, but it was too dark to see any city if there were any.

As she wandered on, she got to see the strange things that dotted the landscape. Pink bubbles that would float around, sometimes even some small creatures sat in the corner of her eyes, but did not approach. Perhaps they felt her presence much like the baku did? She didn't know. Maribel didn't want to approach these strange bubbles, Doremy had called them 'dream souls', but she didn't tell her their relevance to her dream self. Apparently, if you touch them, you get their 'dream'.

"I wasn't staying here for much longer anyway, I got here on accident after all. Let's just hope that three boundary manipulations don't dispel the boundary between two worlds..." Maribel muttered to herself and raised her hand. "I'll go back to the door realm, how about that?" She spoke to herself. Although she focused on this memory, she could not find any boundary to it. All she could make was a surprised expression. _Did_ _it not exist?_ _... Was I hallucinating it all? That can't be it, if so, how the hell did I arrive here in the first place?! Where the hell do I dream anyway?!_ She thought in frustration. With her quirk active during the night, she felt more uncontrolled than she did earlier today. She didn't mind though, there was nobody around to moderate herself for except her own good.

Maribel took a deep breath. There was a presence, not like the baku and not like a youkai, but she couldn't see them in the darkness. She wandered and maneuvered through the dream world, plagued by paranoia and the feeling. All she really did in this dream-like adventure was try to escape from what she felt behind her back, what she felt with her quirk. It was when she arrived at an old shrine, or temple in the middle of a forest where the feeling stopped. Her boundary-seeing eyes surveyed the site, what boundaries she could see did not exist on the shrine's grounds, There were statues. Maribel's face contorted into a frown. All to herself, she didn't know what to feel. Renko would probably say she looked scary.

Hearn sat down by a set of stairs that led down a mountain and down into the forest. "This place is a bit different than normal." She told herself, gripping hold of the stone step she sat on. She didn't move for what seemed like an eternity. _It feels a bit like delirium..._ She thought. After a long while, it was as if all her strength was sucked out of her, forcing her to return to the real world. Maribel sat by the edge of her bed and her quirk deactivated. Her bed's sheets were cast aside, and she found a piece of paper on her desk with her own handwriting.


	9. Chapter 8: Easy Emergency Exit

Maribel strides up to her desk and holds the paper up, briefly turning to her right and reaching to flip a light on. She then sat down and began to read. It was written in her own handwriting.

 ** _It's been few days since I ended up in the dream world and I most recently I have been stalked by this pair of girls. They're creepy, but they don't feel like that baku. I don't know who they are, but their presence is familiar and I don't want to trust them. I'm writing this as a way to forget this nightmare, but also to tell you, my real world self. The boundary between us is faint._**

"Aha..." Maribel mumbled. _I didn't write this... Oh, I understand it now. The dream self is who I am when I sleep, but... It's unusual, I don't 'dream' very often, only recently. Perhaps we've been one and the same and without directly manipulating the boundary, we've gotten further and sometimes closer. Then I've been close to myself for many years then... Renko must see this, but I'll have to hide it._ She let go of it with her left hand and searched around her room, tossing the piece of paper written with an ink pen in one of her drawers. Her dad never really checked her drawers, so it'd be likely that it's all to herself. The boundary girl let out a long and drawn out sigh, and grabbed her mobile phone. She woke it from its sleep and checked the time.

 **05:00**

"I keep waking up early when that boundary is flipped. But it's not like I'm drowsy after it's been done. I welcome it, actually." She mumbled and put her phone back to sleep, starting to change out of her pajamas and into her school uniform. Not wanting to change clothes the last minute before leaving for school. After that, she quietly left her room and went down to make herself some breakfast.

As she walked into the room, her body was bathed in morning light. Flinching and reacting spontaneously, she quickly made her way over to the windows and pulled down their blinders one by one. Maribel put some toast into a toaster and sat down in a chair, pulling up her phone to text Renko. Truthfully, she did not expect her to respond within a few hours. She began writing.

 **[Today I was in the dream world again. I didn't encounter anyone, but I arrived at an area where I couldn't see the boundaries! It was by a shrine. This has never really happened before, and I'm very confused by it. My dream-self (It's difficult to explain, but it's who I dream as.) wrote a note to me after I had manipulated the border between my dream and dream-self, she said someone was stalking her. Only hours before, I too felt very paranoid and it didn't feel natural. Perhaps we are close to each other? I can't wait for tomorrow, so I can explain all of it.]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 12/4/2146 at 05:18**

The message may have been a bit long, but she felt it conveyed what she had to say. After that, Maribel closed the messaging application and opened a web browser, but she quickly closed that too. I have nothing to do. She thought. Currently, the studies weren't particularly demanding, so she had neglected them for yesterday's evening and this morning. But if any homework presented itself, she was glad to do it. _I just hope this day won't be so irritating._

* * *

The entrance to the school was flooding with reporters from various news agencies. Maribel didn't quite fathom why they were here, so she felt inclined to approach. She'd have to pass them anyway. When closer, one of them, a woman with dark brown hair and a suit approached her and leveled a microphone close to her mouth. Hearn stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her.

"Hey, student! What is it like to be taught by All Might?" The reporter asked. Maribel saw cameras being pointed at her in her peripheral vision. She couldn't help but feel a little pressured.

The student shrugged. "All Might is an alright teacher, but I've only had one lesson with him. I can't make much of a judgement." Then she paused for a second or two. "I'm going to my class now, don't slow me down." Her nose wrinkled a little. _God, they are annoying._ Maribel walked away. And despite some attempts to question her further, she got past them and went into the main building.

* * *

When she finally got to the class, she could see that not everyone was there yet. Everyone was standing around and talking and Maribel felt like she wanted to take part in it all, so she made a stride towards Iida. Currently, he was talking to Yaoyorozu. _I suppose he's just building off of the stuff from yesterday, it's good to make friends, after all._

"Hey, Iida. What's on the schedule today?" She asked him, more cheerfully than normal. It felt like she could be a bit more open with him.

He turned and looked a bit surprised. "Ah, Merry. First we're having homeroom with Aizawa and then we'll have hero history class. Then there's the lunch break, followed by mathematics."

She felt relieved the day was so simple. "Sounds like a pretty lax day, when's it ending?"

"Last time I checked the schedule, around 16:00." He recalled, looking up to the ceiling as part of his body language.

"So the day's about eight hours." Maribel briefly checked her phone.

Momo took the opportunity to tease her. "Are you in a hurry or something?"

Maribel felt a need to clarify, but acted almost flustered. "No, no! It's just I was going to have a meeting with my best friend very soon and I don't want to have anything to stress over."

"Who is this friend?" Tenya asked her curiously.

"Her name's Renko and is currently studying to become a physician. All I have to say is she's a prodigy. I was asking if she could help me study math, I got lost too many times during the last class." She explained gleefully. Although she had to lie, the reason she was bringing her over was a bit more personal.

"I could always help you, if you need anything." Momo cut in, as always, she was very supportive.

Hearn felt like she didn't want anyone to interfere with her free time aside from Renko, so she swiftly came with a response. "I don't really wish to take your sweet time from you. She's also the kind of person that compliments my quirk pretty well, manipulating space is very interesting to a physicist."

"I mean... You're not wrong." She responded, somewhat satisfied with the answer.

"What's her quirk?" An eager Izuku spouted from behind her, leaving Maribel a little surprised.

"A-ah... Wh- Anyway. She discerns the time by looking at the stars and her location by looking at the moon. It's not so interesting. But she told me a while ago that her great grandmother was one of the first vigilantes. She also told me her quirk was one of the most powerful of the times, and this was when quirks were first becoming common." Hearn turned to Izuku, she herself was very eager to make her friend look good in the eyes of others. Whether that meant making her family look important or herself, but she wasn't lying about what she could do.

"One of the first vigilantes?!" The three which she had been talking to were suddenly interested. Perhaps it was because of their interest in heroism.

Maribel remembered everything Renko had told her about this person. "Her name was Sumireko Usami, and her quirk was 'ESP'. She could do many weird things, like pyrokinesis, but she had no trouble pulling giant radio towers down or sending villains high into the sky. It is said she disappeared mysteriously after she had a kid."

"So why's her quirk not like her great grandmother?" Izuku wondered.

Maribel knew the answer for this one, even if Renko never told her about it herself. "She inherited a mutated quirk from her mother that mixed with one from her father. She's a little bit like me, actually."

"Mutated quirks are ones completely unrelated to their heritage. So your quirk is unique in your family." Tenya noted.

"Yeah. But weirdly enough, I have a variation on my fathers too. I can feel the presence of other quirks and things. For example, I can sense whenever Izuku activates his quirk. His feels very imposing." She pointed at Izuku as an example.

"W-wha? So you felt my quirk activate at the entrance exam?!" Izuku burst out, it was as if he was suddenly stressed. Maybe there was something he was embarrassed about.

"For a brief second. It hit me a little softer than the shockwave you made." Hearn explained. "All Might is kinda like that, but constant and refined, it's as if his quirk has a clear sense of purpose." She continued, and Izuku's expression didn't change. "Are you alright?"

"Ah-uhm... Well, it's just so embarrassing that you're comparing me to the number one hero!" Midoriya excused himself.

"Don't need to be. I'm just saying you feel familiar. Maybe, I think I've made a discovery. What if the feeling of quirks has psychological impact?" Maribel asked herself. The others only stared at her. "Nevermind... Oh, the teacher is here." She pointed to the doorway where Aizawa was standing.

"Let's get back to our seats then." Tenya said with a smile.

"Right!" Izuku took the chance immediately. What's gotten into him, really?

Maribel walked on over to her seat, past Bakugo. She only bothered to give him a passive glance, but she felt at ease otherwise. He'd never act up in front of the teachers. She sat down and waited for Aizawa to begin speaking.

"Good work on yesterday's combat training. I saw the video footage and the results. Although you are all good, some of you stick out even among the talented. Bakugo, with that kind of skill, stop acting like a child. Maribel, with your adaptation, do away with recklessness. Todoroki, your battle was the best I've seen. Midoriya, you settled the fight by breaking your arm. Realize you can't keep breaking your body. It won't get you anywhere. Focus on attaining control first and foremost." He began the class. Maribel stayed silent whilst Bakugo groaned. _Who was Todoroki again?_ _I never introduced myself to him._

"Yes sir!" Izuku let out.

Eraserhead sighed. "Now, let's start with the first matter of today: You will decide on a class representative."

In an instant, every other person began shouting about wanting to be the rep. Maribel wasn't interested, so she just sat and waited.

"Let me do it, me!" Katsuki shouted in front of her, raising his hand.

Maribel turned her head to her right and surveyed the classroom. Even people like Izuku looked fired up, although he lowered his hand after a few moments. Clearly thinking about something. Almost everyone she could see wanted the position.

"Silence, please!" Shouted Tenya and immediately caught her attention. His hand shot up the highest. In no small part due to him being one of the tallest in class. "This is a job with the serious responsibility of leading others! It's not a job for just anyone who wants to do it. It is a calling that requires the trust of those around you! If we want to use democracy to decide on a true leader, then we should hold an election to choose one."

"Why did you suggest that?" Someone said. _When you think about it,_ _feels like he really wants the position._

"We haven't known each other for very long. How can we make the decision?" Tsuyu Asui remarked. It's true most of us don't know each other yet.

"If that's the case and everyone votes for themselves..." The redhead she saw yesterday let out. She thought he tried a little hard to be attractive, in all honesty. That's to say, in a 'macho' sense.

"I wouldn't. So there would be someone with at least two votes." Maribel spoke loud and clearly, not really shouting. Her eyes were fixated on the redhead at first, but drifted to Tenya. She had interrupted him right before he said anything.

"Y-yes. As you can see, someone will be the leader. There can be no tie with the whole class." Tenya added. "What do you think, teacher Aizawa?!"

"I don't care, as long as you decide before homeroom is over." Eraserhead eloquently said while getting into his sleeping bag.

"Thank you very much!" Iida responded.

* * *

They had set up a very simple voting system, everyone got a piece of paper that they had to write a name on. Those papers would then be collected, and the score would be written on the board. Maribel had decided to cast her vote for Tenya simply because she liked him the most out of the people in class. Momo would obviously have been her second choice.

Eventually, the votes had been tallied.

 **Tenya Iida - 2**

 **Momo Yaoyorozu - 2**

 **Izuku Midoriya - 2**

 **...**

Maribel immediately spoke. "So it's come down to these three, do we want to make a second vote to determine who goes and who doesn't?"

The main competitors couldn't help but agree.

Tenya responded. "That sounds fair."

Momo's response was the same. "Reasonable."

But Midoriya wasn't so quick to answer. "I-I forfeit!"

The boundary girl sighed along with the rest of the class. "We'll still need to break this tie."

So they voted.

 **Tenya Iida - 10**

 **Momo Yaoyorozu - 9**

"I ain't voting for any of you!" Bakugo made his choice clear, he wasn't as angry as he should be. It was all concentrated into a simple frown.

Aizawa sat down on his chair, still enveloped in the sleeping bag. "Then you two should come up in front of the class."

Both Tenya and Momo stood up and walked up to the teacher's desk.

"Then the class representative is Tenya Iida, and the deputy class representative will be Momo Yaoyorozu." Aizawa announced, before bouncing off of his chair and laying down.

* * *

The hero history class was a bit of a slog, but Maribel was great at it. They got an introduction to how heroism sprung up from vigilantism and such, some important figures. As she had explained earlier to Izuku, Momo and Yaoyorozu, she knew a descendant of one of these vigilantes. Some questions were asked, such as: Would they be arrested if they were in today's Japan? If they were using their quirks recklessly without license, sure. But after the change in governance around the century shift, the crimes of vigilantes were pardoned for their honorable efforts. I suppose closest parallel would be the pardoning of Sagou Takamori by the Meiji Era government. Previously, the government was considered largely corrupt. Despite working in a populist fashion, no matter the party in power. There were officially sanctioned heroes, but by en large, they were as corrupt as the government that lorded over them. One hero changed it all, All Might. Why, or what particular event changed everything, was unknown. His ultimate power and influence on the populace ultimate drove the worst of the corruption out of Japan.

On the topic of All Might. It was said that he took his inspiration from the United States of America when concerning his style as a way of embodying freedom from tyranny. He had also, of course, traveled there. Although the modern American government had changed over the years, it had managed to keep a lot of its freedom for its people. States had been given back a lot of control as having a large government managing everything with millions of people with different quirks around was a huge problem. The union was retained and still had its own treasury and taxes, but it became more alike the America of centuries past. In a sense, becoming more in tune with the American ideal. Still, what part of the federal union that still had power, used it to its own means. The state being accused of trying to implement a quirk control system by gently nudging the vigilantes along to become part of a larger organization. Nemuri had also taught them that foreign hero organizations, mainly from America, too adored All Might. His symbolism had garnered much support from both the government and the private organizations. They even invited him to the White House once.

Maribel detracted from her internal thinking, food plate in her hands. Her eyes wandered around the mess hall. _There's no seat close to Iida again..._ _Where am I supposed to eat?! Damn it all, I'll just sit wherever closest._ She wandered over to a table with some free seats. She looked at a messy looking purple haired boy. He looked very tired. "There isn't anywhere else to sit, could I eat here with you all?"

"Sure, go ahead." He said, uninterested. The rest of the people he sat by were clearly not talking to him. Maribel nodded and put her plate down on the other end of the table, sitting down. They ate, almost unaware that either of them sat close to each other.

Hearn felt obliged to spark a conversation. "This day's pretty long for me, what about yours?"

He looked up from his meal. "Hmm? ...For the general department's 1-C, this day ends at half past three. Why do you ask?"

She thought to be a little bit honest about her reason. "I'm just thinking that friendly conversation would uplift our moods. Trust me, I know it works."

"...Right." He began eating again.

Maribel toyed a little with her food before she spoke again. "In the hero course we end this day by ten past four. To be honest, I can't really stand ending the day later than three, you just feel so worn out."

"Hero course?... Well, I can't say I disagree with you." He looked up at her again. Maribel had a smirk ready and apparently this made him happy enough to return the favor.

The alarm suddenly rang, and Maribel's eyes darted into the air around them. "There has been a level 3 security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly." An automated message resounded throughout the entire building. "I repeat... There has been a level 3 security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly." It droned on. Many people began leaving their seats and run for the exit. But her new acquaintance didn't.

He leveled his eyes with her. "I guess you're not the kind of person to panic in these kinds of situations either."

Hearn really wanted to progress this and decided to tell him her name. "I'm Maribel Hearn. Just call me Merry."

"Hitoshi Shinso."

The alarms kept on blaring, almost drowning out their voices, so she had to get a little closer. "I could get both of us outside using my quirk, if you'd like."

"By all means, the alarm is irritating to listen to." He held out his hand to her as if he expected her to send him off with instant transmission. His expression feels resentful, but he's not aggressive.

Maribel scoffed lightly as he held out his hand. "I don't need to be in contact with you to do it. Just don't look me in the eye." She focused, her quirk activated, letting her see the boundaries that she wanted. Maribel instantly thought back to the gate where you enter the school. _Somewhere around there works._ Hearn then easily opened a gap in the border and created what appeared to be a portal to that place. It was located to her right, as she had perceived it that way. "There it is."

"That was quick." He notated and walked on towards it. Maribel stepped through the boundary, arriving on the other end instantaneously. After her came Shinso.

While they were off to the side of the main gate, it seems like the reporters she met earlier today hadn't left yet. In fact, they had approached the main building. The barrier that was erected shortly before the class started had crumbled mysteriously.

"They just won't leave." Maribel stopped focusing, the gap disappeared and so did her discomforting eyes.

Shinso's eyes were locked on them. "I could stop this right now." He said.

Maribel immediately replied with "Wouldn't that be breaking the law? I don't want to chance. Let's investigate the gate instead. Someone's destroyed it."

Hitoshi gave her a slightly irritated glance, but sighed as a way of admitting defeat. They both walked on over to the gate and Maribel felt glad that the reporters hadn't spotted them just yet. When they got to the gate, Maribel started by rubbing the stuff with her foot. "Looks a bit like it rusted." _This kind of break down is disintegration, so..._

While Maribel thought. Her partner offered his thoughts on the matter. "Someone with a quirk to disintegrate things, maybe only metal. It's not a battle oriented quirk, if that was the case, people would've noticed."

"It can strike silently." Maribel stepped away from the gate, not wanting to dirty her shoes with something that could be magnetized. Then she started rubbing it into the ground just to be rid of it. "Do we just stay here until someone arrives? I don't want to get caught up in the crowd of reporters again, even if I could easily escape."

"Let's hide somewhere until it's settled down then." Shinso suggested and walked away from the gate, towards the trees. Maribel decided to follow in pursuit.

"Wait for me!" She said, thankfully not arousing any attention from the mass media.

Both of them agreed to hide behind some trees and wait for everything to die down. In the mean time, they didn't speak much, mainly speaking on the situation.

The sun shone right on Maribel as she leaned on one of the trees. Shinso right next to her. It was difficult to see anything until a cloud finally manifested itself to conceal the sun. Maribel then saw Shinso had been looking at her the entire time and embarrassingly looked away.

"What was that about?" She ignorantly asked. It's not like she didn't know, but she didn't want to feel mean to him.

He looked back at her and then at the ground. "While I don't have any problems talking to people, it's not often I get to speak with a girl as nice as you. Are you popular?"

"Never was." Maribel lied, smiling almost naturally. Only towards the end of my junior high years and soley due to a quirk. Maybe if I actually spoke with anyone but Renko, my looks would've carried me somewhere, but what's done is done.

"Huh... With a warp quirk like yours I would've expected you to be the attractive and popular girl." He remarked, despite clearly having this deep conversation with her, his tone remained stoic. But he didn't seem so insistent on keeping that subtle irritated expression of his anymore.

And now she felt a bit guilty over lying. "Well, technically I was. But only after I grasped what my quirk could do. I hated my popularity and never engaged in it."

Shinso could only give her a confused look as she said that. Eventually, he scoffed harmlessly. "That's alright, too." He then turned his head to the gate, where a police car had rolled in with a couple more stationed outside.

Hearn stepped towards the pathway, where the commotion was taking place. "Situations like these... They kind of make me wish heroes could enforce the law like police, at least on government owned ground."

"I imagine that would make quite some trouble. Given that most heroes are not explicitly loyal to the government. They might just selectively enforce something." Hitoshi reasoned.

"Oh, I agree." Maribel responded with a stoic demeanor.

The police stepped out of their cars and began to escort the reporters away. All the while, the one teacher in the vicinity taunted them. "Goodbye, bad mass media!" He said, with his quirk amplifying his voice. This was none other than Present Mic, someone Maribel hadn't seen in a while. They decided to walk on up to him. "Huh? Nobody left the building through any door. How did you get here, students?" Present Mic asked them humorously.

"Well, my quirk can create portals. In a way, I just rescued someone, even if the trouble wasn't so great. Isn't that nice?" Maribel told him, she wasn't very upbeat at the moment, so she sounded plain.

"Very nice." He said in English. But quickly changed to look very serious. "Do you know how the press managed to break down the barrier?"

"W-Well-" Maribel was cut off by Shinso, who decided to speak in her stead. It was as if he was planning ahead.

He pointed back at the gate. "As you can see, the gate has been reduced to dust. You can imagine rusting to be able to do this, but there's no rust. Someone disintegrated it. So the press had someone with a quirk to disintegrate matter, metals, at the very least."

Present Mic pondered on his words. "I wouldn't be so quick to call the press responsible. We'd need evidence first, and the police will help us with that. I'll call for the principal. We need a meeting about this. You two should return to your classes.

"Yes, sir." Shinso said and walked on towards the door. Maribel followed after. Before they walked inside, he turned and asked her one last thing. "Please keep our time by the tree a secret."

* * *

Once the day was over, Maribel parted from U.A High. Briefly speaking with Tenya about the position of the class representative on the way home before they too had to separate. He felt undeserving of the position, but Hearn decided to comfort him instead of agreeing with him. Maribel thought it the right time to check if Renko had responded to her text.

 **[How mysterious, I think I have many things to learn from this. But I can only truly understand it if I see any of it in person. Other worlds, dream-selves, places where your quirk cannot work. It all sounds so weird, you might even have to assume the existence of new particles for any of this to be possible. We don't even understand what quirks truly are yet. Almost sounds far-fetched, but you can never guess with reality. In any case, I hope you'll be well. Try not tiring yourself out at U.A too much! The school must have a lot of physical exercise if it wants any of its heroes to be in good shape.]  
** **\- Renko Usami, 12/4/2146 at 14:23** **  
**

Right now, Maribel didn't have a response. This was of course just what Renko thought of it, but she had no answers. _It must really befuddle her if she can't give me a factual answer, or maybe she's just busy?_ The boundary girl shrugged and continued on making her way home. A quick ride on public transport took her close to her house. Where upon she took the rather comforting shortcut through the woods that were located close to her house.

"I hope I can get a good night's sleep this time. I'm thinking I should lay on one of those dream souls, in all honesty."

 _...It's almost like dreams have become my reality again. Not in the same way, of course, but still. A part of it is my reality or is it simply a different one?_


	10. Chapter 9: UA Invasion

**This is my longest chapter yet, it's over twice as long as my longest, which was chapter 6. Sorry if it took so long to put it out, I was being both lazy and waiting for high school to end. I guess I should say that I hope you enjoy this, even if I'm not sure that I did as well as I could.**

* * *

"This temple? It has possessed by the power of a god." Doremy Sweet explained. Her long, red night cap dragging across the wooden floor as she turned her head to Maribel. Around her were dream souls, moving around her like drones. From above, the moonlight of the dream world flew in, making the baku look right out of some sort of fantasy game. When seen in this manner, Maribel didn't feel quite that intimidated, but perhaps she was simply getting used to the youkai's presence. "Gods and we are much alike. However, the divine power of a god can run counter to that of youkai, should they have great power and intent. I would presume that is why you cannot see the boundaries."

Maribel thought about it, it sounded ridiculous. But this wasn't the first time she experienced a similar effect, when she visited Mt. Fuji a few years ago, she saw that the boundaries were fuzzy. It felt like a less intense version of this."Well, do you know what god it is?"

She looked at Maribel, her smile twisting into something cat-like. "I've met a lot of gods over the course of my existence, but I cannot place my finger on it. There's a been a few that felt this way, but it's not exactly the same. A young youkai like yourself may not have had the opportunity to meet any, they are rare these days, the humans of today place their faith in the mundane and 'heroes' as they call them."

The blonde crossed her arms. "This temple gives me the same vibe as those pursuers I was feeling yesterday."

Doremy raised her eyebrows, making her look a lot smugger than usual. "Then has it crossed your mind that the god might be interested in you?"

"Now that you tell me, no." Maribel responded, scratching her chin in some confusion. It almost felt like she had a fever. "What temple is this, anyway? It's in the middle of the woods."

"For a god to exist, someone has to place faith in it. Take this clue: It must have some presence in the outside world. Thus, the temple may be an object of interest to humans or even youkai who live in the outside world." The baku responded informatively, shrugging as she did not actually know whose, or what temple it was.

While Maribel was thinking, Doremy was pondering other things. Her blue, ghostly eyes darted down to meet Maribel's, which managed to catch her attention. "I'd like to ask you to keep out of the dream world for some time after you are done here for now. As I've said before, you shouldn't leisurely manipulate the boundary to cross into the dream world."

Hearn nodded. "Right. Well, I think I'm almost done for today. I don't want to be near this temple for long." She said, pointing to the interior.

"Very well." Doremy replied, raising her hand as a way to wave goodbye. "If you have any nightmares and wake up, say 'Baku-san, come eat my dream.' three times. Then I will solve your problem." She continued. Maribel waved back at her with a smile after the awfully friendly offer, before eyeing the dark corners of the temple. Her eyes wandered back to where Doremy was, but she had already left soundlessly. _She's fast._

Maribel looked back to the interior and felt curious, so she started walking around. Being unable to see boundaries were a new experience for her, given that she's been with it all her life, but it also put her at some unease. The passage of time was like nothing, signifying that she was having another bout of delirium. Although she could still take in the details of the walls. They were in pristine condition, despite looking so old. A temple like this must be centuries old.

A few footsteps resounded a couple of meters behind her, close to a window where the bizarre image of hills, a sky filled with red grids and the moon could be seen. It offered a strange purple moonlight shining down specifically on Maribel and the floor she was standing on. Maribel turned around to look at whoever it was, but due to the darkness and her delirious condition she couldn't quite make out how they looked like. Whoever it was had the voice of a girl, no older than her. "Sorry... But the master doesn't think you're qualified yet, you have to become more capable before she'll have a personal audience with you."

"Hmm?" Maribel could only say, breaking out of her 'sleep walking' like state. What little details she could make out included a long, handheld object, a strangely shaped black hat and vibrant clothing that she couldn't tell the color of. The shadows obscured most of everything else. A window shed some moonlight on her face. It featured very natural looking purple eyes, signifying the probability that she had a quirk. As a result of quirks, human characteristics had become more diverse, even for the quirkless, but less so. She was adorned with long, brown hair with a particularly weird cut of long hair with two long side locks.

She immediately wanted to leave, turned and ran away.

* * *

When Maribel woke up, it was still night out. This time, she actually felt drained, more than usual. It wasn't an actual nightmare, so she had no excuse to call for the baku. So she made herself comfortable and went to sleep again. For the first time in weeks, she had a true dream, rather than a 'real dream' or venturing the dream world in her sleep. She recalled activities during school, her classmates, the strange new figures that she met in the dream world.

The 'god' and its presence, the mysterious girl who spoke of qualification. All of it conjoined in unintelligible events thought up by her brain.

 _It must have some presence in the outside world._

Opening her eyes, Maribel found herself lying on her bed, small rays of sunshine going through the gaps in her blinders. She sat up and nudged her eyes a bit, got on the side of her bed and went over to her drawer to change from pajamas to her school outfit. Once that had been done, she went down to the first floor of her house to prepare breakfast for herself. Maribel held no care for time or the people around her, she only wanted to recharge, and ponder. As she ate her breakfast, she didn't notice that her father had also woken up. He was trying to ask her something, but she didn't even notice him at first.

He called out to her, loudly. "Maribel!"

"What?!" She yelled in return, staring him right in the eye. This took him aback and made her confused.

... _My eyes?_ _Is my quirk active?_

Maribel turned her head to a window and stared at her reflection. As it turns out, her quirk was active and she closed her eyes. "Sorry, sorry... I'm pretty tired."

Concerned, her dad inquired her. "Are you alright?"

Maribel focused, it took a couple of seconds, but she managed to deactivate her quirk. "Yes, there's nothing wrong with me. But I should say quirk's gotten a lot more potent recently, by using it frequently. Supposedly, that's how I train my quirk. The nurse told me that. It's a bit confusing, since we never found out how my quirk works biologically.." She explained and took another bite of a ham sandwich.

The slightly distressed look on his face faded. "I hope you aren't hurting yourself too much at school. It's a hero academy, but putting yourself in a hospital isn't good for anyone."

"I only received some bruises thus far, it isn't so bad." Maribel retorted calmly.

A friendly smile appeared on his face. His blond hair and green eyes glimmering in the light of the sun coming through the window. "Well, I damn hope so. Shouldn't you be heading to school soon?"

Maribel swallowed the remains of her sandwich. "...That's right. I have to be quick!"

* * *

The day went by for her pretty quickly, Maribel felt really out of it. She hadn't said much to anyone yet, even when others had tried to talk with her. She remembered hearing Iida, Momo, Tsuyu and Midoriya talking either to her, or about her. It was weird, almost like having a fever without feeling warm, at the same time, she just didn't pay attention.

When the teacher arrived by the desk to the current lesson, Foundational Hero Studies. She blinked as she felt a new presence out of the twenty other ones in her proximity, suddenly snapping out of her condition and holding up a hand. "Aizawa-sensei. Isn't All Might supposed to teach right now?"

Aizawa looked as deadpan as he usually did and directed his eyes to Maribel. "We decided to change today's class to have three instructors. All Might, me and one more person." He said, causing Maribel to lower her hand.

The kind of meek voice of Izuku Midoriya entered her ears and turned her golden eyes to look at him at him. "Sensei, Could I ask what we will be doing?"

Aizawa pulled out a plate, similar to the one All Might had taken out during the last lesson they had. This time it spelled **RESCUE** in big blue letters. "This time you'll be going through rescue training. It will include anything from disasters to shipwrecks."

The class quickly started talking. Maribel leaned on her desk with an arm and turned around a little, looking at Momo in the back. "I hope we don't get injured this time." She wished. Catching the attention of both Yaoyorozu and the guy who sat in between them, Minoru Mineta. Maribel wasn't sure where his eyes wandered to, but she threw him a curious glance before looking back at Momo.

Momo was eager to offer her a compliment. "I think it'll be fine in rescue training. Your quirk seems pretty good for rescuing people." And then continued speaking, with some concern in her voice. "It feels like you've been almost asleep until now, did something happen?"

Maribel was about to describe her problem. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure I started feeling bouts of it since yesterday, perhaps-..."

Aizawa interrupted everyone. "You can decide if you want to wear your costume or not this time. Some costumes may limit your ability, after all." Then pressing a button on his remote to bring their costumes out from the sliding pieces of the wall. "This class will take place off-campus, so we're taking the bus. That is all I have to say... Start getting ready."

The teacher walked out of the classroom, presumably toward the bus. Everyone else got out of their seats and went for their costumes.

* * *

In the changing room, Maribel decided to talk to Momo again.

"So as I was saying. I've been feeling bouts of delirium for the past few days, mostly after school. It's pretty troubling, so I've been thinking of checking up with the nurse about it." She elaborated on their last conversation.

Yaoyorozu was a little curious. "You mean that's not why you stayed with the nurse after the battle training?"

The boundary girl excused herself. "Ah? No, not at all. I was just feeling things with my quirk, I don't think it's related to this."

"Well, that's a relief." She responded and started putting on the main part of her outfit, that being the yaoyoreotard, a leotard designed to expose as much of her skin as possible. The next piece of her gear was the yaoyoro-belt, a thick belt designed to hold and prop up the positioning of her third piece of equipment. The yaoyorictionary was the final and most vital part of her outfit which allowed her to check and add both materials and constructions that she could then create. Human memory could only remember so much, after all. Writing, the most important human invention.

Maribel's hero outfit had far less utility than hers, despite being very light and allowing her to move very easily. It was a flashy, yet simple outfit with a white skirt going past her legs. Legs that were adorned with a skintight, synthetic material as white as the skirt she wore. Her chest was covered by a fine white blouse and was accompanied by a purple and black tabard made of synthetic materials that covered her chest, back and neck. It was held together by the neck via a zipper that was barely visible. When it came to mitigating her faults, she had things she called accessories that would clamp on certain points around her body. Maribel didn't know the science behind such equipment, but she knew that Ochaco's quirk had similar problems and received the same kind of equipment, although in larger variants. The last pieces of her outfit were mostly of decoration or convenience, like the red ribbons around her shoulders or her mob cap that she could hold some of her hair in.

They both left for the campus, where the bus would arrive. Maribel saw Iida and walked over to him almost on instinct, bringing Momo with her. They stood right by the bus because of this. "Hi, Iida!" She waved.

Iida looked at her. She saw he was holding a whistle in his hand. "Oh, Merry." He said, smiling and just kind of forcing her to return the favor. But he changed to a normal expression thereafter. "You've been a little down today, did something happen?"

Maribel wasn't a big fan of repeating things she said before, so she decided to summarize. "I've been feeling out of it for the past two days. I'm not sure what it is. But I'll talk to the nurse soon."

"That's great, I'd suggest doing it after class." Iida said, friendly as ever. "If you'll excuse me for just a second." He told them and raised the whistle to his mouth. Both Maribel and Yaoyorozu looked at him a little strangely. Then he blew it and yelled out. "Class 1-A, gather around! Form two lines in accordance with your student numbers in order to board the bus smoothly!"

It was then that the bus actually opened, and when the three looked in, it wasn't really designed like he thought it was. He froze, as if he was defeated. "I don't think that'll be necessary anymore." Yaoyorozu commented as nicely as she could.

Maribel instead sought to comfort him a little and patted him on the back. "At least you have good priorities, Iida."

* * *

When they finally got into the bus and started riding towards the facility, Iida at last let out some words. He sounded a bit regretful. "Shoot... I didn't think it'd be this kind of bus."

The pink mutant sitting on his right weighed in. "There was no point, huh?"

"It's fine." Maribel said, sitting next to him. Everyone was kind of laughing at him, so it was to be expected for him to feel like he did.

Tsuyu started talking with nobody in particular. "I'll just say whatever comes to my mind..." And then pointed at Maribel from the other seat. "You could cut most things in half with those portals you make, isn't that a little dangerous?"

"A little. I'm improving my fine control, though." Maribel explained.

"I see." She replied back.

Maribel felt it appropriate to boast, just a little. "Apparently my quirk's becoming stronger with 'quirk training' too. It's a little overwhelming, since my quirk is very versatile and I have no idea of my full potential."

Tenya joined the conversation. "You can see boundaries, right?"

"Is that like seeing the time someone has left in life?"

Maribel glanced at him and then looked down at the ground. "Yeah... And it's hard to explain, but I can't see something like that." After a pause, she looked up and looked at the rest of the class seated around her. "Oh, did you know I can also flip the boundary of things?"

"Oh?" The redhead was suddenly curious. "How do you mean?"

"Well, it's a bit hard to comprehend, and I haven't really tried it a lot... But if something was a reflection for example, it would be 'false', and not the true object. By flipping this, maybe I could bring the object to me or me to it... Well, it's confusing." She explained enthusiastically, as if she was infatuated by her own capabilities. Then Maribel paused and blurted out another sentence. "What was your name again?"

"Ah, em... Eijiro Kirishima!" He responded, hardening his arm and flexing. Maribel thought he was trying to pose for her or something. She also realized that asking for names abruptly was a little weird.

Midoriya shined in. "That sounds really confusing. So I guess if someone was in a mirror, you could make them 'true' and touch them through the mirror?"

Maribel looked into his eyes with her own, golden ones. Causing him to cower a little.

"U-uhm..."

She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I'll try it later." Maribel stated. "Maybe it works on invisible people, or a reflection of the moon."

There was a pause. They pondered on the capabilities of her quirk until Tsuyu decided to interrupt. "Your quirk's kind of like All Might's, Midoriya-chan."

"O-oh! W-well... I'm nothin-"

Maribel offered her own observation. "He doesn't get bigger like All Might does. Besides, it seems like Midoriya hurts himself when he uses his. Even if he hits hard, he isn't hard himself."

"Sounds about right. They just look a little similar." Kirishima agreed.

Midoriya froze up for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. He then stuttered a little nervously as he spoke. "Right!... Since I saw All Might as a kid, I took a liking to him since I could hit like him. B-but... It's kind of hard to use it without hurting someone, so I've held back on using my quirk. If I can learn to handle it like All Might does, I can become a great hero!"

The red head from earlier chimed in response, taking a liking to Izuku's attitude. "That's the spirit." He then looked up to Bakugo. "Does every class have this many people with cool quirks?"

Bakugo turned his head to the window. "Shut up about your mopey shit."

"But seriously, that sounds so manly, Izuku!"

The bus had already traveled a bit. So Aizawa suddenly cut in. "We're here. Get ready."

Maribel raised her head and replied. "Yes, sir!"

The building they were going to was a gigantic dome. A testament to modern architectural capabilities. Maribel wasn't used to it, and the rest of the class really weren't, so everyone marveled at it. When the bus stopped, they stepped out. This is where they met one of the other teachers for this lesson.

The sound of a voice ran through a radio, or low quality microphone, rang out from the hero. "Everyone, I've been waiting for you."

Immediately, Izuku Midoriya gushed. Maribel didn't quite understand the fascination, perhaps it was because she wasn't familiar with many heroes. "It's the space hero, Thirteen! He's saved tons of people!"

His costume was a little intimidating despite the fact that it was a lot like a space suit. The design on the helmet gave the impression of eyes, colored all black with two white spots. It was of course, made of glass... Or something like it. That's what space suits use, isn't it?

"Let's get inside without delay." He told the class, pointing at the stairs leading up to the absolutely gigantic structure.

The entire class spoke in unison. "We're looking forward to work with you!"

* * *

On the outside, it was a massive dome, as big as a small mountain perhaps. On the inside, it felt a bit like a space station with just how big it was. Maribel's long skirt swayed with each step as they headed inside, she took her place next to Iida. As they got to the other set of stairs, Kirishima spoke his thoughts loudly. "Wooow! It looks like USJ!"

"A shipwreck," Thirteen pointed to the area with water. "a landslide," His index finger shot to the area with a set of ruined buildings, covered in dirt and rock. "a fire," He continued, moving his arm to point at the dome with a clear fire-motif on the outside. "a windstorm." The following area he announced was another dome, colored in darker and brighter shades of blue in a checker pattern. Thirteen spread his arms to his sides. "Et cetera... It is a training ground I made with different types of accidents and disasters. It's called the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint' or USJ for short!" The hero finished. Pointing out past the gate. Some low chatter erupted from the class.

Maribel looked to her side and spoke. "Looks like it was USJ, Kirishima."

"Awesome." He responded.

"Thirteen..." Aizawa said, approaching him. Their talking got a lot lower though, and she couldn't hear them.

Maribel spoke to herself after considering the situation. "It doesn't seem like my quirk would have any real troublesome application here, I'd just need timing to keep rubble from falling through."

"Not as safe as just lifting blocks of things, no?" Kirishima asked her rhetorically.

Maribel thought and then sighed. "I think I have a solution for that."

Aizawa returned to a normal volume, still keeping his eyes on Thirteen. "That's the height of irrationality. It can't be helped. Shall we begin?"

The space hero was quick to choose his words. "Let's see..." He paused for a second. "Before we begin, let me say one... Two, three... Actually, a couple of things." He raised his arm for everyone to see. "Everyone. My quirk, Black Hole, can suck up anything and turn it to dust."

Izuku stepped forward. Talking in his usual soft voice. "You've been able to use that quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?"

Thirteen lowered his arms. "Yes, but it's a power that can kill easily." Thirteen turned his head to give each class member an eye. "Some of you also have quirks like that, right?" Maribel felt like raising her hand in response, but chose not to. "In a superhuman society, personal quirks have been certified and stringently regulated, so that doesn't seem to be a problem at first glance. However, please do not forget that there are many quirks that can easily kill with one wrong step. With Aizawa's physical fitness examination, you found out just how capable you can be, and with All Might's person-to-person combat training, I think you experienced the danger of using those powers against people." He spoke. Everyone in the class acknowledge that it was a speech, and sought not to interrupt. He pointed at class 1-A. "This class is a fresh start. You shall learn how to use your quirks to save lives. You do not have quirks to harm others. I hope you leave here with the understanding that you have powers in order to help others." He finished, then bowing gracefully. "That is all. Thank you for listening."

Ochaco was ecstatic. "That was wonderful."

Iida clapped. "Bravo, bravo!"

Maribel though couldn't quite appreciate it and stayed silent. But still, she did clap.

"All right then, first-" Aizawa said, but was cut off by the sound of the lights lining the side of the megastructure frying and shutting down. Maribel felt an odd sensation with her quirk and glanced to where it was, down by the fountain. She took a step forward or two to look down. "Hmm?" Aizawa let out when the lights went out, and also in reaction to Maribel.

Maribel raised her arm and pointed down at the unusual event. "Aizawa-sensei." She simply said. He glanced down at a portal that was in the middle of forming by the fountain. The class was stirred and Thirteen too, turned to look. "Someone's manipulating a border, and it's not me." She continued.

"What?!" Aizawa let out. "Everyone, gather and don't move!" He continued and waved the boundary girl away. Maribel shuffled back to Iida, and stayed a little close. Tenya was a little confused at the development himself, but he didn't seem to have much of a problem with her being so near him.

The portal exploded in size and took a form. It had a set of glowing eyes and a noticeably distinct portion in the middle of it. Someone was getting through it. I can feel it.

"Thirteen protect the students!" Aizawa ordered and readied himself for what was about to happen.

"...Who are they?" Kirishima worryingly asked, then a bunch of people came through. Mutants and more. He leaned forward to get a better look over the edge. "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson has already started?"

"Don't move." The teacher ordered again and put on his goggles. "They are villains."

Maribel took a good look at the enemies they were faced with all of a sudden. Most of them looked like mutant-types, the kind of quirk she was honestly least fond of. Maybe it was the human inability to identify properly with non-human faces or such, but of course it had to vary from person to person, she had no problem with Tsuyu after all. Among the crowd, standing unmoving by the portal was a boy that looked only a little older than them, although it was hard to ascertain, due to the prop hand blocking his face. Next to him was a strange, mutant-type person, with what appeared to be an exposed brain and shark teeth. He had a hulking stature, clearly male in figure. The villains seemed to be quite the chit-chatters, so it was hard to discern any conversation from the crowd.

"The trespassing of yesterday was the work of these scumbags after all, huh? Their timing is too perfect." Aizawa said, loosening the wrappings around his neck.

Kirishima was now openly worried. "How the hell did they get into a hero school?"

Yaoyorozu stepped forth, next to Maribel. "Sensei, what about the trespasser sensors?" She inquired, which prompted Thirteen to turn around.

"We have them, of course..."

The boy that Maribel had seen and heard mentioned earlier, Todoroki, decided to give his own insight on the situation. Speaking in a calm but serious voice. "Did they only appear at USJ, or around the whole school? Either way, if the sensors are not responding, it means they have someone with a quirk that can get them past it. This is an isolated area separated from the main campus, and they attack during a time when a class is supposed to be here. They might be fools, but they're not dumb. This attack was planned, with some sort of goal in mind."

Aizawa moved to the center of staircase's top. "Thirteen, start evacuating the students. Try contacting the school. It's possible they're interfering with radio signals."

The class thought, Maribel thought about activating her quirk, but if they were evacuating it'd be best if she didn't.

"Kaminari. Try contacting the school with your quirk, too." The teacher resumed his speaking after a short pause.

Izuku sounded more worried than any of them. "Sensei! Are you going to fight them all by yourself? They're so many, even if you can erase their quirks, Eraser Head's fighting style is capturing after erasing the enemy's quirk. A frontal battle is-"

"You can't be a hero with only a single trick." Aizawa replied sternly. He gave a glance to Thirteen and said "I'm leaving it to you, Thirteen." Before taking a set of great leaps down the staircase, down to the horde of villains. Impressive feats like these were made possible by quirks enhancing human physique to varying degrees, allowing people to take great amounts of harm without any enhancement quirk.

In his first attack, he easily took out three of the villains through excellent application of his quirk and capture weapon. Weaving through the first enemy attacks like they weren't even there. But that was all she got to see before Iida took her attention. "Merry! Get to safety!" He said, causing Maribel to break her concentration and head past Iida, following the rest of the class. Even with a long skirt, she could move around relatively easily. Iida followed right behind her. She saw he stopped for a moment, but carried on herself, wishing not to disappoint him.

As they ran, Maribel could feel something in the back of her mind and abruptly stopped. "They're manipulating a boundary up ahead!"

"Huh!?" Iida let out and stopped early. So did the rest of the class. When the man who was creating these warp gates appeared before them, there was a good fifteen meter gap between them, allowing them some breathing room.

"It's nice to meet you." The black shade spoke with a loud, sinister, but cool voice. Maribel felt his presence was weird, as if his body was tearing in space. "We are the League of Villains. It may have been presumptuous of us. We have invited ourselves in to the home of the heroes, U.A High School, in order to make the Symbol of Peace, All Might, draw his final breath."

Despite his intimidating visage, the boundary girl was more concerned with other things. Maribel got a bit closer to Iida and spoke lowly. "I can feel his presence with my quirk very clearly. His body is like a gap in space."

"We believe All Might should've been here. Has there been some kind of change? Well, that is neither here nor there. This is part I am to play..." He spoke.

Thirteen prepared to attack, raising his arm and uncapped one of his fingers. Just as he did this, Bakugo and Kirishima ran and leapt into the fray. The first attack being dealt by Bakugo from a distance as the villain was enveloped in dust and smoke. Maribel was a little shook by the large boom, adding to how unfond she was of that quirk's user.

"Don't be so confident you gaseous little shit!" Bakugo yelled as he flew back from his attack, Kirishima landing right next to him.

"How threatening..." The shade let out through the smoke, it cleared when he took his form again. "Even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs."

"Get out of the way you two!" Thirteen asked them, having closed some more of the distance to act as a barrier between the students and the villain.

"...My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!" He declared, and attack with what appeared to be parts of his body. Maribel could very subtly see the inner workings of it all. From those shadowy pieces of fog, he could create a gate between locations. The sudden attack took Bakugo, Kirishima and Thirteen by complete surprise, leaving them no opportunity to fight.

Maribel felt it as they left through the warp gate. Nobody else could see what happened to them. "His quirks lets him open portals. He just sent them elsewhere!"

"Wha- What?!" Izuku let out. He looked freaked out. Maribel gritted her teeth, not knowing what to do. She was stressed, but without her quirk active, she kept herself under control.

"What an excellent deduction." The warp gate moved almost instantaneously, covering nine meters and unleashed another attack. "And now for the rest of you." Iida rushed to the side, grabbing hold of Maribel and Ochaco by their waists. Caught completely by surprise, Hearn couldn't help but gasp. By the time they got out of the way, Maribel had already started to push herself up, and Iida let go of her.

She took a deep breath and stared at the mess that was occurring. The warp gate had created a dome of its fog that would capture anyone inside.

"T-they got everyone!" Iida yelled out. Ochaco rose to his side and they all looked at the scene.

"This is bad... If our phones don't work, we're in trouble." The boundary girl muttered. Iida nodded in agreement.

When the attack was over with, all those who were left standing inside of the attack's range was the guy with several arms who was covering the insect-looking girl and a black haired guy with weirdly shaped arms. "Everyone! Make some distance!" Yelled Maribel to the remaining students. They all got up and ran as fast as they could toward Iida, Maribel and Ochaco. Regrouping closer to the staircase to avoid being cornered.

"I'll distract him!" The guy with the weirdly shaped arms told the rest of them and got closer to the warp gate, firing off what appeared to be tape at his opponent.

"Me too!" The pink insect-looking girl announced alongside him and swung her arm to create several droplets of acid that would travel through the air towards the warp gate. Combined, their attack made him back off for now.

"How troublesome..." The warp gate murmured and kept dodging the incoming attacks.

"We have to contact the rest of the school, somehow." The guy with multiple arms suggested, calmly, despite the situation.

"Uh... What was your name?" Asked Maribel, not very seriously. She regretted not asking for everyone's name back during the first day.

"Mezo Shoji."

Tenya was quick to suggest the building blocks of a strategy. "We have to get past him. I could do that, but I'd have to avoid being caught."

Maribel Hearn was quick to enter the conversation. "If we're going to distract him, it's best we don't let him catch onto the exact nature of it." She then got closer to Iida and talked. "I could bring anyone of us directly to the main campus, but it's more than two kilometers away based on what I've seen, I might just be exhausted by it all or pass out."

Ochaco joined in. Followed by Shoji, using two of his arms to get a mouth and an ear nearby. "I can make you lighter, Iida. It should make you faster, but if you don't want to go flying, you have to grab onto something, like trees or the ledges."

"I don't think I can make it out of the USJ any faster while I'm lighter, there's not much to grab without running into him. You know what happened with the emergency yesterday." Iida responded seriously. "I'm sorry, but we will have to do without."

"Damn it! I can't hit him, it just goes through!" The tape-guy yelled as the warp gate seemingly avoided his tape unimpeded, weaving around his eyes and fog-like body in response. But despite this, he continued his attack as it worked as a distraction. Of course, he had to be moving for a reason.

"Well, what do we do?" Shoji asked, knowing they couldn't hold out forever.

"I... Uh, his body is constantly manipulating a boundary, as if it's made of a gap in space. I might be able to stop him completely. If it doesn't work, I'll... I'll..." She had trouble coming up with an actual backup plan and was stuck on the same thought for a couple of seconds. "Damn it, I'll just send one of us to the school, even if it might put me at risk." Maribel presented her idea. Honestly the thought about trying it made her anxious, she had never manipulated someone else's gap before, 'warp gate' type quirks were a rare breed.

Iida had to be decisive. "It's our only shot. Let's do it!" He said, and broke off from the group. He entered a stance that would let him break into a sprint much faster, the exhausts by his legs shot out a little.

Maribel stood next to Iida, turning to look at the warp gate. "Give me just a moment." Hearn said as she straightened out a little and stretched, taking a deep breath as she did. Then she opened her eyes, activating her quirk and turning her eyes into the strange purple color they usually assumed. "Here we go!" Both the pink-skinned girl and the guy with the tape stopped their attack as she took a few steps forward.

Having been shoved around trying to dodge all the tape attacks, the warp gate sounded a little irritated. "It seems you've concocted a plan... I'll just have to put an end to that!" He reached out with his tendrils, prepared to attack whilst moving weirdly to avoid the distraction.

The boundary girl moved her purple eyes to stare into the bright, yellow eyes of the warp gate. He halted his attack for just a moment, and just as he was about to move again, Maribel swiped her arm across her field of vision. She imagined herself entangling the gap and constricting it, taking control of its form.

Instantly, the fog receded as the warp gate grunted. He shrunk and tightened up into an almost pillar-like shape, writhing as he did. "G-graaaah... T-the hell...!?"

"Now! Maribel called out to Iida.

"Iida!" Ochaco yelled out next to her.

The exhausts on his legs lit up. Fire blazed from them as he sped off, faster than any of them.

"N-nonono..." The warp gate stuttered, but Maribel tightened her control over his body. "Gnrgh..."

Iida got to the door and forced it open. That was when Maribel lost sight of him, and it meant that the plan was a success. She let out a sigh of relief. "The more I look at you... The more it seems you may be more squishy than I first guessed. What is your name?" She asked, looking at the warp gate. Now that Maribel held some confidence that she could keep the rest of them safe, she got closer.

"K-kuro... Kurogiri..." He said with some trouble, it seemed like her forced hijacking of his quirk was causing him some pain.

 _I should make him aware of his position, so he doesn't try anything._ Maribel sneered at him. "There's a part of you that isn't a warp gate. What would happen if I collapsed your warp gate in the middle of it?"

Ochaco intervened, patting Maribel on the back. "Oooh... Uh... Let's not do that!"

 _Neither do I want to reveal that I'm not going to. Shut up about it._ Maribel thought to herself and frowned, she obviously couldn't speak of her plans in front of him.

Shoji got a bit closer. "I think Aizawa-sensei's having a bit of trouble, if he goes down, they might go after us next."

 _Damn, I didn't think of that. We might be a pinch._

The warp gate scoffed at them. "That's right, the rest of your class is caught up with our members, and your teacher can't survive foreve...Gngh..." He boasted. Maribel discerned that this was nothing more than an attempt to derail her efforts and once again tightened him up with her Boundary Manipulation. _But it's true, though... Still._

"With Iida through, you just lost your reason for staying here." Maribel gave him a grin. _IMaybe I can remove him from the battlefield? Even if he can return quickly, I'm not sure he is as capable at creating gaps as me. What are his limitations..._

She clenched her fist again as a mental primer for forcing her control over his warp gate body. Kurogiri felt a lot of pain washing down on him as the armor covering his real body was pushed against it, she kept it that way for the moment. "What are the conditions for you creating a warp gate?"

His voice was almost hoarse now. "I-ah... Need to s-see... Oh-or... I n-need c-coordinates..."

"Then I just need to send you to a place without coordinates." -Th _e dream world,_ _I'll just have to leave him there temporarily._ She thought as she looked for the boundary between him and his dream self. Maribel then straightened herself out again and input quite a bit of effort to flip the boundary between real and dream self, but not enough to create nausea.

"Merry, what are you..." Ochaco was about to ask. But just then, Maribel waved her hand and Kurogiri lit up for a split second, in a purple flash. But instead of disappearing, he was replaced. _What the hell am I thinking?!_ A look of distress and regret spread across Maribel's face as she realized she had made a mistake. Manipulating that boundary doesn't just move you to the dream world. Her hand shot out before the newly arrived dream-Kurogiri could react. Kurogiri's real body was enveloped by his warp gate, sending him back down to the fountain.

"What did you do?" Shoji asked, confused. A drop of sweat ran down her nose.

After a pause in action, where Maribel just panted from stress, she finally said something. "That was close..." Maribel then turned around and faced the rest of the remaining class. "...You'd be confused if I explained in detail. But I made a mistake. I was going to send him into a mirror world, but I just ended up replacing him. I really have to figure out how to do that _."_

Of course, what she said wasn't entirely true. Maribel wasn't very interested in explaining the mystical aspects of a dream world, people would think she's insane. Substituting it with something like a mirror world, whilst almost as bizarre, wouldn't make her look so weird. _Wait, he might not know about my quirk now, since that's not the real one._

"So that's not the same one that we just fought?" Mezo Shoji asked again, turning to look back at the fountain. Maribel walked forth and stood next to him, the others lined up as well.

Maribel answered simply. "Yes."

The black haired student commented on the situation as he overlooked the fighting down there. "Without a teacher, we're in a bad position. Aizawa-sensei won't last forever, either."

"What's your name?" Maribel asked, turning her head to him.

"Me?" He replied, pointing at himself. "Hanta Sero!"

"Hmm. I'm feeling an itch, maybe I should help him. I could try it from a safe distance..." _Distance_ _._ Maribel pondered on that.

Shoji created a pair of ears on his dupli-arms. "It looks like they're here, scattered."

"Hmm... I was thinking about telling you people to go help them, but it'd be an issue sending you all over the building whilst trying to help Aizawa. Because it's so large, I might get exhausted from doing it repeatedly. And it's not in our best interest to put ourselves in danger." Maribel explained her predicament. I wonder if I could hit them from a distance. She though and her ghostly eyes wandered between the different villains, dream-Kurogiri, the boy conversing with him and the muscular shark-like figure next to him. Finally, they went to Aizawa, who was having very little trouble actually fighting them, but there's not just fighting to a fight. There are stamina, strategy, match-ups. He hadn't faced all of them, and they likely have someone appropriate to deal with him.

Ochaco decided to offer her insight on the matter. "I'm not really equipped for combat, going in there wouldn't end well for me. Don't hurt yourself if you're going to help him."

The insect-looking girl made it clear that she wasn't going to join in. "This is the rescue lesson. I'm not about to get into a fight willingly."

Sero too, justified himself. "Ah... I don't have the experience to handle so many. We're just students after all."

Shoji turned his eyes to Maribel and devised his own plan for the situation. "I'll stay here and give everyone cover."

"I'm going to interject in that fight, but I want to test something first. I noticed something when I used my binding technique on Yaoyorozu, and later, Bakugo... Oh, and I'd suggest cupping your ears." The boundary girl made her intentions clear, the other students watched as she created two gaps in space adjacent to her, one on each side. Ochaco nodded and held her hands over her ears. The others did the same, Shoji's arms removed their ears and placed his hands over his actual hearing organs. _I'll use what you taught me about kinetics, Renko._

Air funneled into the gap as a vacuum, with more volume than a building was extinguished. It screeched loudly as the wind was pressured by the atmosphere into the gap. Maribel started feeling a little weary because of it.

They all stood still for more than a dozen seconds with the wind rushing into the gaps creating a terrifying howl. She took a deep breath as she focused, when she felt the gust of air stopping. "One, two..."

She stared down at the action occurring below. Villains were swarming to Aizawa, their quirks being nullified. One with terrifying long fingers sent a piece of rope all over the ground in the time it took a normal human to blink. Hiding behind his teammates to avoid Eraser Head's quirk. Another attacked with a tendril of tentacles from their hair, only to be nullified before it could reach him. From the distance they were at, easily a couple dozen meters, the effects of her attack would the minimal. And if she wanted to avoid hitting Aizawa, she had to move them closer. So they flew like a set of magical mirrors and placed themselves in just the right places, pointing away from Aizawa.

"Three, four..."

The rope laid around Aizawa's position suddenly started to tighten up at a terrifying pace. Nobody had gotten any time to react to the movement of the gaps.

"Five."

The binding gap evaporated. As the warped space inside ceased to be, matter couldn't. It flowed out and into the atmosphere forcefully from the exit points of her gaps, it broke the speed of sound and flew fast enough to crash into the villains below from an impressive range. The winds knocking some of them over, down, away and stopping a few in the act of attacking, the aforementioned rope being sent all over, entangling itself in other villains. What resounded over the area was loud enough to be heard by everyone as a high-pitched howl.

"I'll call that one... **Double Boundary**." She said. Maribel felt a little tired after the attack, shuffling out so much stuff through a warp in space that she had created seemed to take a toll on her. This didn't seem to be the case when she simply tore through space with her gaps, her thinking was to distribute the attack over a couple of seconds. In other words, she'd have to be softer on the dissipation of the gap.

"That was so cool! It's almost like Midoriya!" Ochaco said.

Maribel couldn't help but smile. She moved her eyes back to Aizawa, who's hair dropped as he set her eyes on her. He then immediately resumed combat, turning away and grappling one of the villains with a single set of wrappings around the throat. He tossed him around, forcing him into the range of an enemy attack that scorched him. Immediately thereafter, the attack stopped, as Aizawa set his eyes on the enemy.

"Be safe, everyone." Maribel told everyone else and then started to walk down the staircase. Just to be prepared, she started to prepare another Double Boundary attack, the air that was in front of her rushed into her face and past the border of the gaps. The girl could discern a few faults in this new attack. The preparation needed for it prevented it from being reliably fired over and over, thus it would be best fit for something to bail her out of a situation or breaking an enemy formation. Secondly, in order to be prepared, she had to funnel the air and the things in it into the gaps. This would naturally occur with the vacuum she creates, but it would also give enemies a golden opportunity to approach her. Thirdly, both gaps would have to be eliminated simultaneously, allowing her one shot per charge from different directions and split power.

There were a couple of pluses to this attack, however. "I'm not sure, but the gap seems to disappear as I react. So if I react faster, I can make it more powerful. Of course, if it doesn't make me nauseous in doing so... With more space, I can shoot more mass... The speed of the projectile is the important part, though."

* * *

The battlefield below was chaotic, every villain wanted to have a shot at the pro-hero. Mutants with their fists and unusual physical capabilities completely failed in hitting him, emitters couldn't get any attacks off as he weaved through them and incapacitated them. Aizawa hadn't been lying when he said that a pro-hero couldn't exist with just one trick.

A gap in the border of space was created not far from the battle. The instant it was, it moved back, letting Maribel effectively teleport. It then evaporated. The two gaps she had created back on the staircase flew right to her, like a set of levitating, ghostly mirrors. Maintaining two gap 'sets' was a hard task for her, but she had pulled it off with a little bit of destablization of the binding gap. In a second or two, and eager to end the fight, she angled both of the gaps to avoid hitting Aizawa, as a way of preventing the villains from surrounding him.

"Double Boundary." Was an improvised mental trigger to stop focusing on the gaps. The space she had created by linking them in a wormhole-like fashion ceased as quickly as she could think, expelling the air found in them in a massive lance of a subsonic shockwave. With winds far faster than any recorded hurricane. Some villains were tossed aside dozens of meters away. If they were injured wasn't something she was concerned with, even if she should be. No, Maribel only wanted to deal with the situation at hand.

Maribel started running forward, approaching one of the confused villains from behind. A mutant type with a set of quills on his back and a rather rat-like face. In a bout of stress, she socked him in the back of his head, which was strong enough to completely knock him out, to some mild surprise from her.

With her entrance, the villains that the teacher had been fighting had been routed. They were no longer attacking in her presence. Especially once she got close to him. "They scattered most of the class around the facility, Iida got out and is going to contact the school. Thirteen was sent elsewhere, too."

Aizawa responded in far more serious tone that he usually did, but still kept his deadpan voice underneath it all. "That's a concern... And you shouldn't be fighting, get to safety."

Maribel decided to take this time to create another set of gaps around her to prepare her next attack, pointed upwards as to not disturb any sound. She attracted a lot of air. "I felt you'd be overwhelmed, and if you were, the rest of the class wouldn't have any hope until Iida co-"

 _U2 Akiyama - Touhou 15.5: Antinomy of Common Flowers - Yorimashi Between Dreams and Reality ~ Necro-Fantasia (Arrange)_

"Enough talk!" A giant of a mutant, with dark green skin and rock-like fists yelled as he was about to attack, raising his gigantic fist. Simultaneously another that looked a bit like a demon, with leathery skin and military camo clothes charged at them. With this, the rest of the villains jumped in, regaining their morale.

Maribel muttered something that she felt she'd say again sometime. "My, how rude." The airflow into the gaps stopped, signifying that they were full. Maribel swiped across the thin air and unleashed her Double Boundary attack for a third time, focused into a cone. This time she reacted much swifter. Everyone in front of them, including the giant mutant-type user were tossed far into the air. "Eraser Head!" She called to her teacher, urging him to attack.

Aizawa sent his nanofiber capturing weapon at the same hulking giant and wrapped him in it. Then, with the help of the momentum, he swung him into a whole lot of the airborne villains. Sending them all down to the ground with a loud thud. Both the student and the teacher looked at them for a couple of seconds, before they discerned that they were incapacitated.

"Wait a minute." One of them said. Maribel shifted his eyes to him. The man had a nice, swept, black haircut, decent musculature and a good face. His fingers though, they were elongated, they touched the ground, strewn about. Really, it was a little disturbing. For clothes he wore a set of baggy, white pants and a green tanktop. "...Look under your feet." He said.

Aizawa's hair fell just when he jumped away, being already familiar with the villain. Not having time to activate his quirk before he would act. It seemed that he was familiar with this opponent. Maribel was immediately strung up in what appeared to be fingers. The moment after that, she was swung so that she'd be in the line of sight Aizawa. Blocking his vision of the villain. One of the elongated fingers held what appeared to be a flashbang in it, and unwrapped just as Maribel came into the trajectory where it could be tossed at the teacher. It flew off, trigger and all, right at Aizawa.

Maribel reacted quickly and created a gap where she'd be flung sideways into. She appeared right next to Aizawa, pushing him out of the way with her momentum. Although she was wrapped in his fingers, her quirk would still work, so she cleaved the flashbang in half with a gap. As previously mentioned, Maribel had momentum, momentum that would now be on the other end of a gap. The villain that was previously mentioned was forced to plant his face into the ground and withdrew his fingers from Maribel and through the gap just before it closed. She pushed herself up. And just as she did, Aizawa activated his quirk on the villain, forcing his fingers back into their normal state.

He pushed himself up to a knee, and then onto his feet. Briefly checking his hands before giving the teacher a threatening stare. "Call me Sleight of Hand."

The teacher gave him no quarter and threw his capture weapon just as he gave his alias. But the villain wasn't so bad without his quirk, side-stepping the incoming capture weapons and quickly rolling onto the ground to avoid the immediate follow-up Aizawa made by drawing his weapon back. "I don't like to hurt ladies, you're free to run." He said to Maribel, keeping his eyes on Aizawa as he got up again.

"Don't take me so lightly." Maribel responded seriously. She leaned back a little, her white skirt swaying in the process, raised her hand and attacked through a gap. He was unprepared for such a thing, even if he knew her quirk, and was hit square in the face. It left him with some serious damage to his nose and made him stumble. In this moment, Aizawa could get close enough to strike him as long as he did not blink, but staying true to his name, the villain suddenly managed to throttle the hero using his freakishly fast and long fingers on the capture weapon that Aizawa carried with him. A mere blink was enough for him to act. He brought him close, and was about to give Aizawa a serious beating until Maribel cut in with a kick through a gap aimed right at his stomach which forced him to let go of Aizawa and wobble back, then immediately withdrawing. The teacher was quick and spun around to knock Sleight of Hand's feet with a powerful kick of his own. Aizawa followed up by wrapping him with his capturing weapon while he was mid-air and tossed him away as far as he could towards the landslide area. Just as he did, Aizawa had to blink, and the villain's fingers began to extend. They were fast, extremely so, and grabbed Maribel.

Having been taken a hold of again, Maribel was flung across the area, landing outside of the ongoing action. Sleight of Hand hit the ground first and then Maribel landed on him, not as hard, but it still hurt like hell. They were mostly alone, as the rest of the villains seemed more concerned with Aizawa at the moment. After her intervention, it seems like they ran short on fighters. That was what she thought, anyway.

Sleight of Hand writhed on the floor for a second and tried to throw Maribel off of himself. She wasn't in the best of shape herself and was shoved off. He pushed himself up and panted. "Eraser Head's good, but he doesn't hit as hard as you... I'm sorry, but since you don't want to go away, I'll have to take you out of fighting condition."

Maribel felt like she got a jolt of energy all of a sudden and pushed herself up to a kneeling position. She got a glimpse of his face she did, it looked like she had done a number on his nose. He had also pointed his hand at her, probably in order to make use of his quirk. At such a predictable angle, Maribel knew what to counter with. His attack was to simply extend his fingers at a rapid pace. But it was not as swift as someone like All Might, so she had ample of time to react. She created a gap in front of her that led just behind her, forcing his attack to pass behind her and hitting nothing. "Sh-"

"Huh..." She let out in the same instance that she realized her position and promptly removed the gap from existence. It lost its oval form and turned into spatial tatters before ceasing to exist. In the process of doing so, removing all five of his fingers and half the potential of his quirk. He pulled back and took a hold of his hand, screaming in pain as what remained of his fingers pulled back into place, they looked like limp stumps. Maribel had thought of doing something like this before, but now that she saw it, she felt a little guilty. Her eyes drifted elsewhere in something that resembled shame, before she looked back at him with anger. Backhanded him with a clenched fist right in the side of his jaw. Some teeth flew out of his mouth as he wobbled to the side. Hearn made a very short sprint and grabbed a hold of this face, shoving him down to the ground. Sleight of Hand was forcibly shoved down on it and finally laid still.

 _Uh, I hope he's not dead..._ Maribel thought, more worried about the consequences pertaining to herself than him. She leaned in to listen if he was breathing.

"Pfaaaah..."

"Pfuuuuh..."

 _That's a relief, now, I have to get back to Aizawa._

Song: End

* * *

 _I've no idea what she did, but I was just a hair's width away from being done in by that flashbang._

Having had his student taken away from him, Aizawa wasn't happy, but he had to focus on the matter at hand. There was a trio by the fountain that he'd been eyeing for a while. They were oddly still. _I would suppose that these are their pawns then._

"...So you don't know if any of them got away?" A voice out of them rang out. "Kurogiri... Because of you... Because of you!..."

He tossed his capture weapon and grabbed two enemies in front, slamming them against each other. The way that velocity was carried caused them to rotate, smacking their head into one another's and putting each other to sleep, inadvertently. He quickly maneuvered past these and found himself face to face with the three, still surrounded by enemies. They were in the middle of talking. "I'll just have to wait and see... Kurogiri, prepare to turn off the game..." The human-looking villain spoke with the same voice as the he heard before.

He turned his head to Aizawa. "Oh, so this is the mid boss... Huh..." He wore a hand over his face, the back of his head, over his arms... Other than that, his wear was awfully simple. But he wasn't like the other villains, by just seeing his eyes, you'd know that he's crazy.

Aizawa's hair raised as he gave an incoming adjacent villain a look. His goggles obscuring the fact that his eyes would be glowing. Then he attacked with a hard elbow, sending his opponent into another. Then came the sounds of footsteps, prompting him to turn around and unleash his capture weapon, which he used to grab a particularly lanky villain who had approached him from behind with a knife-hand. His quirk's effect transferred, reducing the man's hand to normal. Thereafter he tossed him right at the man with the hand over his face.

In response, the warp gate that Eraser Head had seen earlier acted and created a portal just where Shigaraki was. The lanky enemy would instead fall somewhere into the crowd behind the teacher.

Shota Aizawa's hair would then fall over his face. Just as he did, the villain with the light blue haired started talking. "There's a moment... Hmm." He said and then readied himself before running towards the teacher.

In conjunction, a lot of the other villains renewed their assault too, but Aizawa quickly retaliated with a barrage of powerful kicks, placed where it would most likely put the enemy out of commission. After that, he would turn and face this new enemy, just as he got close enough, Aizawa activated his quirk. "You're the final boss!?" He let out.

"Twenty four..."

Steeling himself, Aizawa threw a capture weapon, attempting to turn his enemy's momentum against him and send him tumbling into the villains behind. The villain then took the incoming capture weapon and kept it in his hand as he ran up to the teacher. Aizawa braced and then pulled on the weapon, forcing the enemy close whilst throwing off their own aim. He attacked with his elbow to the gut immediately after, forcing his enemy to stand still. The teacher couldn't help but blink, his dry eye combined with a multitude of other factors made it more difficult than normal to keep his quirk active.

Aizawa's right arm immediately started to fall apart as his hair fell. The enemy's quirk had activated. Surprised, and genuinely in fear, Eraser Head clenched his teeth and attacked with his left arm. They separated, allowing Aizawa to back off into an enemy attack. In an attempt to repel them, he would smack an enemy with his limp arm, sending them right into the ground, and then landing a heavy kick right into the gut of another, larger mutant quirk user with gorilla arms.

 _Shit... It hurts so much, the amount of mutant quirk users is really a hassle. They must've planned for my weakness..._

In conjunction, many of the other villains renewed their assault too, but Aizawa quickly retaliated with a barrage of powerful kicks. Placed where it would most likely put the enemy out of commission. After that, he would turn and face this new enemy, just as he got close enough, Aizawa activated his quirk. "You're the final boss!?" He let out.

"Twenty four..."

Steeling himself, Aizawa threw a capture weapon, attempting to turn his enemy's momentum against him and send him tumbling into the villains behind. The villain then took the incoming capture weapon and kept it in his hand as he ran up to the teacher. Aizawa braced and then pulled on the weapon, forcing the enemy close whilst throwing off their own aim. He attacked with his elbow to the gut immediately after, forcing his enemy to stand still. The teacher couldn't help but blink, his dry eye combined with a multitude of other factors made it more difficult than normal to keep his quirk active.

Aizawa's right arm immediately started to fall apart as his hair fell. The enemy's quirk had activated. Surprised, and genuinely in fear, Eraser Head clenched his teeth and attacked with his left arm. They separated, allowing Aizawa to back off into an enemy attack. In an attempt to repel them, he would smack an enemy with his limp arm, sending them right into the ground. Landing a heavy kick right into the gut of another, larger mutant quirk user with gorilla arms.

Eraser Head looked visibly confused by this, no villain had ever put him to question before. "...W-what?"

"He's a little more unhinged, than usual, and he says that the first person he saw after becoming confused was that girl..."

 _I can't let him get one of the students..._

"She wouldn't happen to be one of yours, no?"

* * *

Sleight of Hand had a few sharp objects on him too, flashbang grenades, sharp things. When they landed, Maribel had been a little unfortunate to hit them, her back was now bleeding a little and the upper part of her outfit had some cuts.

 _I have to get to him._ She thought and started to walk on over. There was a lingering presence around her that she could feel with her quirk, as if she was being watched. Just like back then, just like in her dreams. It followed her with every move, just as intense as before.

Her eyes wandered around the area, most of the villains were out, but the handful that persisted didn't look so eager to fight. Maribel saw that Aizawa had been completely restrained by the shark-mouthed villain. It was a few dozen meter walk to get to them, and plenty of villains in the way. Maribel reasoned that she'd have to get rid of them in some form, and wanting to save herself the trouble of exhaustion, she aimed for intimidation. She prepared another Double Boundary attack, aimed at the villains who had started taking proper notice of her again. At this point, the villains had experienced her power, and the familiar wind that was the prelude to the attack. Combined with this, she made eye contact, making them back away. With only a few meters left, she yelled at them demandingly. "Stop right there!"

"Alright, Kurogiri- You others should watch the staircase." One of the 'human' villains commanded and the ones she had scared off earlier suddenly left for the staircase. _Oh no..._ "Girl, what did you do to Kurogiri?"

Maribel stopped, but refused to respond. In the meanwhile, her Double Boundary attack kept charging, which they definitely took note of.

"It's not very wise to do that with your party member in the way." He noted, pointing at Aizawa.

She realized that just as he said it and aimed both of the gaps high into the air, along with one fist and consciously cut them off after swinging hit down again, lowering it to her side. After the howling winds had been with, she finally began to speak. "You wouldn't understand."

"You must be lying. Besides, we have your party member." Kurogiri said, he didn't sound so different. Maribel remembered that Doremy said something about the dream self being unhinged, was it true? _Maybe he's just not displaying it yet, if I push the right buttons..._

Maribel decided to test something. "Warp gate, do you remember what I did?"

"You somehow sent me back to Shigaraki against my will, didn't you? You bitch." He said, filled with contempt. It didn't sound too out of character, except for the insult. _But he isn't saying what happened before that..._

The boundary girl sneered at him, wiping some blood that was leaking out of her mouth with her sleeve. "Let go of Aizawa, now."

"You're making me angry... I'll phrase it another way: return Kurogiri to normal." The villain with the hand over his face asked again, pointing at her. "Noumu." Shigaraki, as he was called, then said. A cracking sound was heard as the shark villain took Aizawa's hand and started to tear it out of place. With minimal effort, it accomplished what it set out to do. Blood sprayed from Aizawa's wrists and down onto the red stone floor. Maribel stood almost in shock, staring at Aizawa, who couldn't bear to do anything but scream in pain. The giant then crushed the teacher's arm with a simple press of his palm.

"So what will it be?"

Maribel gritted her teeth. _That villain can kill him instantly if I make the wrong move, but I don't want to back away. What should I do? Fight? The big one is stronger than the rest, would hitting it with my hands even work on it?_

 _...I'm not really innocent anymore, I didn't have many qualms when I removed his fingers after all. Besides... I don't quite think people will look the villain's way._

 _Yuki Hayashi - My Hero Academia OST - You Say Run_

Lost in her own little world, Maribel had to make a plan before they could act. Her most rapid attack was neither Double Boundary or a punch, it was her ability to attack physical objects with her gaps.

The presence she had felt earlier magnified a thousand fold, and although it usually made her uneasy, now it felt like a warming fire. Fatigue faded as she started feeling courageous and excited as if all her latent energy was drawn out, Maribel's body started to move, and she focused. Her purple eyes adopted a noticeable glow as Maribel raised her arm to shoulder-height and swung. _...Lend me those arms! I'll put them to better use: none at all._

 _Song: 0:22_

'Noumu' as he was called, suddenly had his arms torn off, they fell to Aizawa's sides. Through his pained expression, the teacher was confused. Strangely enough, Noumu didn't seem to bleed, but Maribel didn't care. Shigaraki could only gawk at what just happened. An instant attack, with no room for retaliation or defense, that could kill almost anything. The black skinned creature started turning his head to her before Maribel felt a jolt of stress and attacked his torso, tearing it in half.

"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki let out, and charged at Maribel with an outstretched hand. The distance was 7 meters, something he couldn't cover quickly normally. So he closed it with the help of the warp gate, letting his arm pass through to reach out to her. The warp gate suddenly expanded under her own influence and Maribel sent her arm out in an outrageously quick attack that would be aided by Shigaraki's own velocity. Landing square in his gut and forcing him back with a grunt. After that, the warp gate faded under her own will too just as she pulled back.

"S-she can interfere with my quirk?" The warp gate let out. Unknowing of her actions earlier, as one's dream self might only just know what it dreams, this was her assumption at least. Maribel's eyes drifted to the warp gate, followed by a sudden contraction of the warp gate's body. He roared in pain as the plates protecting the real part of his body started to buckle, after a certain point however, she let go. All of this occurred very quickly, and preventing any enemy reaction. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Stay-" Shigaraki let out of his mouth before being struck by a kick to the gut from Maribel. She had suddenly covered the entire distance with her own, transparent, mirror-like gap. He was sent tumbling onto the ground and only started getting up after he had lost his momentum. Thus making the space between the two combatants a few meters. The purple-and-white heroine placed her foot back on the ground with a stomp, frowning. Slowly, she made a stride towards him, and he took a while to get up.

When she got close, Shigaraki suddenly shot up, turned and tried to grab a hold of her right arm. In response she shifted her arm around and grabbed his hand. Their fingers clasped together, one by one. She clenched her hand around his as hard she could, something which must've hurt as he responded with a defiant grunt. However, his quirk was made to apparent to her just as the fifth finger touched her. Maribel's skin began deteriorating at a rapid pace, and both of them pulled back their hands in pain. It hurt a lot, but Maribel couldn't bring herself to do more than grunt. She had to fight, giving up in this situation would mean she or Aizawa would probably die. Pieces of her hand began to fall off as nothing more than dust, followed by blood pouring out of the wounds. The pain was agonizing, but the student felt invigorated by the strange presence that was following her. She thought she could make it through.

In the pause after their attacks, Maribel suddenly put both of her legs right next to each other, before inexplicably falling through the floor. From above and through a gap, she'd kick the side of his face using the force of gravity with both of her legs. Shigaraki hit the ground in the process. After that she fell onto the ground, catching herself with a hand before pushing herself up as quickly as possible. He had been much faster, and she had instinctively started pulling away the moment he was about to grab a hold of her head. A touch was all he needed, if his quirk activated, she would perish. That was when Maribel's eyes wandered much faster than usual, they saw his fingers, his index finger. Although worried, she felt more confident now, reminded of the past events of the last few minutes. His right hand connected, and blood started to run down Maribel's face, followed by his index finger flopping against her chin and down to the ground. Shigaraki pulled back in pain again. Maribel wiped his blood away from her brow and eye and suddenly backhanded him in the face hard enough put him off balance, causing him to stumble more than a couple of meters away. "Your quirk only activates when you touch something with ALL your fingers, doesn't it?"

He started scratching his neck with both of his hands, bloodying himself. "You're so cool..." He muttered. "And you're irritating..." He continued, angrily, before starting to slowly walk towards her. This time his approach was far more relaxed, as if he was waiting for her. _As if he's expecting me to attack him through a gap._ She thought, then she created a Double Boundary with slightly larger gaps, as the situation gave rise to a new application. A lot of air funneled into the spatially warped gap and began to pull in the villain and all of the air surrounding him. He was initially caught off-guard by this, but pushed with his feet so that it wouldn't go so fast. He said something, but since air only travels in through objects and the air, it became apart of the high-pitched screech formed by the vacuum she had created. She limited the intake of air by making this one small.

 _... **Charming Double Boundary**._

Eventually, his feet started giving way. The Charming Double Boundary moved above him and unleashed its attack in conjunction, followed by her creating a gap under him. Shooting him down from above and right into the ground. It had applied a spin, making him hit the ground with his arm first and making a nasty cracking sound. The wind blew past Maribel, making her skirt flutter and almost blowing off her mobcap with the intense wind. Everything had died down after a couple of seconds, though.

"Guh..." He whined as he hit the pavement, the hand covering his face bouncing against the red floor and landing a little out of his reach. The boundary girl gave him a stare. In this dire situation, Shigaraki could only get onto one knee and began to scratch himself again. "I'm- I'm..." His without the index finger blood onto his neck as he did, placing his his face to replace the one he had before. He let out and then glanced over to Maribel. "Damn mid boss! All Might isn't even here, and it's already game over!" He screamed to himself. Shigaraki abruptly stopped scratching himself. Now, suddenly soothed, he started talking again with a creepy smile on his face. "...But, but... Oh, that's right, I still have my own..." And started scuttling towards the hand using his knees, barely catching himself now that both of his own hands were injured. Then with some trouble, he placed it back on his face, bloodied.

Maribel couldn't contain herself from giving him an insulting remark, delivered with the coldest tone she could muster. Even if she wasn't in good shape either, she had come out mostly intact. "Did you ever learn not to cut yourself? This was all foolish, you never knew your enemy."

The insult, whichever part of it, was enough to completely shatter his smile, turning it into an angry frown. She raised her arm and created a binding gap, preparing her final attack, Double Boundary. The wind started to course through the area. Blood began spilling out of her mouth.

Shigaraki burst out into a standing position and his angry scream reverberated through the USJ and her mind. "...NOOOUMU!"

Maribel let her attack off early, sending the deranged villain tumbling violently towards the edge of the pool. In that same moment a large shadow immediately appeared next to her and hit her in the side. It was too fast for her to notice any injury, but she felt something crack. The entire facility zoomed through her eyes in a blink and then went black. She was unconscious.

 _Song: End_

* * *

Midoriya, Tsuyu and Mineta had been watching all of it. They'd been afraid of moving out, with the amount of trouble the villains had made. Noumu was one of the last villains on the field, a muscular and gigantic 'man' with pitch black, almost leathery skin and a pair of shorts. It had regenerated after the supposedly fatal attack that Maribel would have delivered. Although it had taken a while, possibly because Aizawa was in the area or because the injury was so great. Izuku couldn't tell. The last of the villains she had been fighting flew off into the side of the pool, barely hanging on.

It had attacked Maribel after one command, right after she used her final attack on one of them. From the looks of it, she landed on the other end of the facility.

"She-... She's dead..." Was the conclusion Izuku came to. Someone without a physically enhancing quirk shouldn't have been able to take such punishment and survive. He started rising out of the hiding spot.

"Wait, Midoriya-chan!" Tsuyu let out, but at that point it was too late. Izuku had already leaped away with the use of his quirk. He flew almost instantly to his target, Noumu.

" **Detroit... SMAAAAAASH**!" He yelled and struck, Noumu in the face. In this moment, it felt weird, his legs weren't hurting and his arm wasn't either. Then, the air coalesced into a wild stream that would blow apart almost anything in its trajectory. Yet, when it cleared, Noumu stood still with only having turned his face just a little. Izuku then bounced back onto the ground, catching himself relatively easily. But he was stressed. _It did absolutely nothing!?_

Noumu slowly moved to face Deku and looked down at him. But despite this, he didn't do anything, standing completely still. _If I can't hurt him, then I should try and save someone- Aizawa is closest!_ Izuku thought as he suddenly turned around and ran after Aizawa. He wasn't too far away, so he didn't have any problem getting over to him. He started lifting Aizawa up, putting his arm over his shoulder. "W-h... What... happened to Merry?" He muttered wearily, heavily injured after the torture Noumu put him through.

Izuku turned around to look at the creature, it remained motionless. "T-the black one attacked her and sent her flying... I'm unsure if she survived."

"I told her to get to safety... For someone with such a powerful quirk, she's just self-endangering. We're not out of this yet, so be on the lookout for any more villains." Aizawa murmured next to Izuku. He could definitely get why he was so concerned about Maribel, but there was nothing Izuku could do for her right now. "Stay put, we can only stay put until help arrives... Hmm?"

Tomura Shigaraki had managed to get back up onto his feet, all wet from being partly submerged in the pool. It had taken a while for him to finally get back up, with the injuries in his hands and all that. He was now stumbling on over to Noumu and the bleeding Kurogiri. The warp gate himself wasn't capable of getting up, all that you could hear from him was quiet groaning. "The mid boss is dead, but my party doesn't have much HP left... I'll have to exit soon." Shigaraki said, adjusting the hand on his face and wasn't giving the two heroes a single care.

Izuku was baffled at his endurance. "H-he's still standing, after all she put him through?!..." And then turned his eyes to look at Aizawa. "I have to stop him, am I allow-"

"Does it look like I can stop you?" The teacher calmly spat out. All his student could do was nod and put Aizawa down. He then turned around and began to charge after Shigaraki, who was still a decent distance away from his companions. In an effort to save his limbs, and considering how injured the villain was, Izuku decided not to use his quirk. Even if he avoided breaking his limbs with his most recent attack, he wasn't sure if he could replicate the same feat again.

Shigaraki turned his head to Izuku and tried to lift his injured arms up in defense, only for his broken one to stay still, he stopped dead. The young hero thought about preparing a counter, but when he got close, his opponent decided to make a dash for Izuku. They met and traded blows, Shigaraki resorted to punching Izuku with his bloodied fist right at his gut, which hurt for them both. Izuku, due to his better condition, had an easier time recovering from the attack and lashed out with a hard blow to the jaw which would bring him down to the ground. Sparing him no time, Izuku got on top of him so that he could restrain him. That was when Shigaraki wrapped one of his arms around the student and made an abrupt roll towards Noumu. Midoriya managed to break away after a ten seconds of spinning, causing them to split off.

The villain got to his feet in a series of short motions, holding himself up with his bloodied arm before shooting himself up to stand. He didn't have the greatest balance as it was. Izuku realized just now that the situation just got much worse. "...Nou... Hmm?" Shigaraki let slip from his lips, a boom resounded throughout the facility, originating from the entrance. All parties present turned their heads to this new entrant. A set of heavy footsteps reverberated throughout the USJ as he made his presence known.

"It's fine now! **I am here!** " His good, mighty voice resounded down to the plaza.

Izuku's attention was taken by his savior. "All Might!"

"Now this really is a 'continue'..." The childish Shigaraki said in response, he turned around to look at his allies. "Kurogiri, are you feeling better now?"

The villain made his way over to his teammate, unimpeded, probably because he knew that Noumu would protect him. The warp gate didn't look to be in any decent shape, but he had managed to get up and find a resting spot by the plaza. Kurogiri could only say a little. "I'm not in shape to fight, but I think I can bring us home."

"Then we've picked the very hard difficulty... Noumu."

* * *

 **This chapter took a long while to get around to writing, but I've honestly been pretty slow at finishing it too. I'm honestly not entirely satisfied, but if I kept on writing, I would never be and the chapter would probably never be out. I'm not sure if I lived up to expectations either, but this is all about practice and having fun for me, so I don't consider that the most important thing in the world.**

 **The next chapter will probably be more like a part 2 to this one, mostly featuring the secondary characters of this story and the fight between All Might and Noumu. I'm probably going to focus more on the intricacies of the moves the characters do, as All Might is an experienced fighter. He might try to bypass Shock Absorption with more than just raw power and knock Noumu off his feet before he sends him flying? Who knows.**

 **Anyway, Charming Double Boundary (an attack which attracts the opponent with a larger boundary)/Double Boundary (An attack which seeks purely to hit the opponent and nullify incoming projectiles once used) is Maribel's currently strongest attack, it works by taking in air using a vacuum created by a binding gap and then unleashing it since matter can't really cease to exist. It's based on Yukari's Hisoutensoku spellcard known as Quadruple Boundary.**

 **When Maribel refers to Kurogiri's body as a gap, it's that it's functionally the same as a gap. His quirk however can only manipulate the boundary between locations and only with certain knowledge (Sight/Coordinates). In case you were confused. With her ability to manipulate the boundaries themselves she could basically pull on his body like a string without touching him. It's a bit broken, but matchups are matchups.**

 **As for what I'll do next? I think I'll rewrite the only old chapters I haven't done yet, but when that happens, I'm not sure. Since I have things to do in the following weeks.**


	11. Chapter 10: Anti-Symbol of Peace

**This chapter only took a while because I was consumed in media, going out with my friends and lazying about. But here it is. I think I am satisfied, though I'm not sure on where I'm taking the plot. If there are any mistakes, please tell me.**

* * *

Scattered around a small room was the unconscious bodies of half a dozen villains. Normally, a Thirteen wouldn't be able to fend off so many villains. But he wasn't alone, he had his students. Kirishima and Bakugo were fierce fighters and technically capable as well. In terms of crime fighting, they were some of the top dogs in class 1-A and were the most responsible for saving his skin throughout this particular ordeal.

The space hero aimed his finger at a particularly suspicious corner of the room and unleashed his Black Hole quirk. As a result, an almost invisible villain was sent flying to him, panicked and was forced to make his presence known in a panicked yell. The pro stopped using his quirk for a moment, a display of his excellent control, as Kirishima cut in and struck him in the side of his head. He was knocked unconscious. The student straightened out, and they all gave glance to the mutant villain. He looked like a chameleon.

As a teacher should, Thirteen congratulated the two on their performance and looked to them. His voice kept the oddly charming radio sound despite some minor battle damage dealt by the villains to that part of his costume. "Nice work you two. You work good in unison."

"Tch! Let's just get out of here. I know there's more of them and I want my fucking revenge on that warp gate! Maybe I'll get one of his friends, too." Bakugo swore and turned to the two of them. Kirishima looked fired up by his determination.

Kirishima slammed his fists together in a form of agreement. "That's what I wanna hear!"

Thirteen could actually agree with this student for once. He was unruly, but capable. "If this place is empty, we're free to proceed. Let's not waste any time. Though, if we meet any other students along the way, we make sure they are safe."

The two students let out a sigh of relief, as if the day would never come. "Let's get to the plaza, then." Katsuki grinned with glee, more bloodthirsty than any of them.

* * *

"It's fine now. **I am here!** " The number one hero yelled out to both villains, heroes and students in the area. As the dust started to settle, the rest of the students up by the entrance made their way over to him. It seemed that something was pestering them. And so, he had to deal with their troubles. All Might disappeared from his spot and immediately reappeared behind his students in a single moment. And in the next instance, he threw a punch down the massive flight of stairs. It was powerful enough to send all of the approaching villains flying off the sides, and with only a fraction of his effort. This left only three conscious villains back down at the plaza. One of them looked like a shadow and huddled by the fountain, resting, apparently.

"All Might!" Ochaco ran up behind him and decided to brief him as calmly as she could, despite sounding extremely concerned. "That big black thing sent Merry flying, she's got to be hurt. You have to be quick!"

The number one hero froze for a second, this situation was far more dire than it appeared to be. So, he angrily grimaced and tore off his tie, which he found to be oddly constricting. "I will spare no effort! Students get to safety!" He yelled at everyone around him. His students were taken aback, but did not have enough time to speak a word before All Might suddenly disappeared in a sonic boom that almost blew them away.

* * *

"Noumu. I've had enough of all of this... Dispose of him quickly, kill All Might." Shigaraki said, angrily. He was tired of this, even with his unusual demeanor and ability to fight through pain, he had his limits. Almost being bested by high schoolers, twice, was one of them. Losing his finger and breaking his arm was only the final straw.

A second boom reverberated across USJ and All Might made his way down the staircase faster than the eye could see. Appearing just before Noumu, who moved in turn. A violent exchange of blows occurred between them which almost blew Shigaraki away. Noumu rapidly expanded and released pressure as the blows connected, before shrinking just as fast. The hero was tagged by several blows as well, however, none too severe to make him bleed. All Might backed off with a powerful stomp to the ground, shattering it and putting Noumu off balance for just a few moments and interrupting his assault. The hero landed roughly 6 meters away on the cracked ground before turning his attention to one of the students that were still down there. "Midoriya, take Aizawa and your classmates to safety!"

Izuku Midoriya ran on over to All Might and when he finally managed to take cover behind the hero, he began to speak.. "All Might! That guy seems to absorb damage. Merry go-"

"Hush, Midoriya! She will be fine, because I am here!" All Might reassured, his voice equally as powerful as he was. Adjusting his stance, he made himself ready to counter another attack. Steeling his eyes on Noumu.

"R-right! Tsu-chan, Mineta! Let's go!" Midoriya announced, the three grouped together and bolted for the staircase as quickly as possible, Tsuyu came to support Aizawa's weight.

Shigaraki chuckled a little. "She was an annoying mid boss! In exchange for my finger, she traded all of her HP..." He said, pointing his nonexistent index finger at the place between the Storm and Flood zone. "...Her dead body's over there."

The number one hero wrinkled his nose and frowned in a disgusted expression. He had enough of this. With a tremendous force, he pushed off of the broken ground and sent himself flying at the enemy. The terrifying Noumu came to meet him at supersonic speeds. Almost catching the students and Shigaraki behind them in the violent shockwave that resulted from the first clash where their fists met. The hero backed two steps back as a result of it. Before Noumu could launch a flurry that he had to respond to, All Might proceeded to swing his body aside down under and grapple the monstrous villain along his waist. He hurled him high into the air in a sudden spin. Only to be grappled by the arm at the last moment by the villain. They both flew high above the plaza. Caught in a place where both couldn't merely dodge, they had to break away, and thus broke out some particularly strong hits to separate them. Wind not unlike that of a storm erupted from their clash. Sending Noumu harmlessly flying into the air above the plaza while All Might landed uneasily at the stairs, very close to Midoriya and company.

The hero got up while the villain landed in the fountain with a huge splash. "Even if you're the final boss, you're not going overwhelming Shock Absorption with a hit or two. It would be best if decided to rip and tear his flesh! Hah! ...Noumu!" The blue haired villain yelled and called his monster into the fight once again. Breaking the walls of the fountain, it leaped to the hero to send him crashing into the staircase. But the hero had many experiences with both strong and tricky opponents, and could predict his approach the moment he went flying. Taking careful steps not to get in the way of Midoriya, he moved a little to the right, ducked a step on the staircase and proceeded to envelop Noumu in both of his arms as his legs pressured into it by the sheer momentum carried by the villain. Swinging him around and using the bear hug to prevent him from moving, and then tossing him into the edge of the landslide zone, breaking the wall in the process.

Noumu was a tought opponent, but even so, the impact had surprisingly cut into its back. It started healing, albeit it was still venting the force that its quirk allowed it to absorb, thus slowing this process down. All Might quickly leaped down to the plaza to stop the fierce villain from indirectly attacking his students again, causing a wide crack in the process. The villain then made another leap. When you were fighting with these levels of power, running was but a limiter on your speed. A powerful step would send you flying and anymore was best used to stop yourself.

All Might was forced into defensive once again, briefly slipping into a position to toss him by stretching out his arms. The opponent's chest collided with his two palms, the hero lifted him up subtly in this split second just before the villain's fist could collide with him. The wealth of power used by both combatants now worked against Noumu, sending him flying past him, falling right into position for All Might to strike. "Detroit Smash!" He yelled as he spun, sending a fist colliding with Noumu's head and forcing him to tumble away a several dozen meters. The monster was sprawled on his chest, and slowly carried itself up. As he was sparing no effort, the hero's time with his quirk was becoming more limited, but it was also beating the villain's quirk a lot quicker.

"WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING!?" An angry Bakugo shouted from just the corner of the hero's eye as he flew in like a rocket. Shigaraki readjusted his head and then his broken arm using the arm without the index finger. The student unleashed an explosion in mid-air, in response, hitting Shigaraki and sending Bakugo flying a meter away. To both Noumu and All Might, this was like slow motion.

Noumu started to move, but All Might wasn't going to let that fly, his anger ever so present on his face. Both of them slipped into motion, clashing explosively with singular strikes as they switched positions. Again, and again, and again and finally almost right next to Bakugo and Shigaraki. They were interrupted in the middle of their own battle and sent flying away a far distance. Each time they collided, the floor was fragmented, becoming bent and unbalanced. The fountain burst into pieces, letting water flow out onto the battlefield. They exchanged blows, sometimes meeting fists directly. Blows to their jaws, a blow to the mighty hero's wound, blows to their noses. The hero didn't falter, but the punches hurt a lot.

 _My time is running out, but I have to make this count. If she's heavily injured, I have to make it safe to get her out. I cannot let anything worse transpire! If I get a bit hurt, so be it, I do this because..._

 _ **I AM THE SYMBOL OF PEACE!**_

The monster tried to beat down on All Might one final time, but he managed to catch the fist, stopping him in his tracks. The creature looked like it was panting, like an animal, it didn't sweat through its skin. Built for sprinting, not marathons. All the people who were present stopped. Bakugo landed on his feet and Shigaraki on his back, staring at the confrontation for the final few seconds it would last.

 _Makoto Miyazaki - ONE TAKE MAN - Theme of ONE PUNCH MAN ~Seigi Shikkou~_

Shigaraki's eyes widened as he shed a drop of sweat, seeing as Noumu was stopped in his tracks completely, and forced back. Blunt force should be easily absorbed by its body to reduce induction of movement. One could get around this with a good throw or a blade, but All Might had done so with just blunt force. His expression under the hand covering his face told of impending defeat, he knew it. "You've gotta be kidding me..." He weakly spelled out as he began to claw at his neck with the finger-severed hand.

"Every quirk has a limit! A limit that can be overcome!" All Might roared as he rolled his upper body to the side of another incoming blow, his palm connected with Noumu's leg and pressured, sending him flying up. The number one hero grappled him by his legs and swiftly spun him thrice, sending the villain flying upwards. Breaking the sound barrier, Noumu flew to the top of USJ. This was the climax of this battle. Both Bakugo and Shigaraki backed away from each other and All Might in anticipation of it. Whether it be by foot or crawling.

 _0:20_

Rubble and dust erupted from where the hero once stood. All Might made a powerful stomp and shot straight into the air behind Noumu, only a little slower than he threw him. The wind was so fierce at these speeds that it threatened to rip any human apart, but neither of these combatants were mere humans.

The hero met the villain high above the battlefield, right by the ceiling. Their momentum had worn off, they were just about to free fall and hung in the air wordlessly for a couple of seconds. Noumu had broken into a spin that conveniently wore off when it began facing him. "Villain! Have you ever heard these words!?" All Might rhetorically asked as he flexed his right arm and prepared to strike. One For All gathered many generations of power, one by one, into his fist. Air surrounding it coalesced into tight trails of vapor, followed by fire.

 _0:50_

 **"Go beyond! PLUS... ULTRAAAAA!"** All Might shouted at the top of his lungs as he struck Noumu straight in the chest before he could defend. The body of the creature ignited for a brief moment as it collided with the burning fist. Sending him flying into the dome at speeds nearing that of a rocket in its early stages. Every single person in the stadium was capable of feeling the power, and some were fortunate of seeing it. The metal surrounding most of the exit point for Noumu was burst open, leaving a large hole at the top of the building. Cracking every window in the massive megastructure in a mighty shockwave.

Noumu was sent soaring into the sky, several kilometers and into the clouds. His trajectory would ensure that he would land close, and be captured, that was the hero's intention. All Might then landed with his fist first into the ground, parting the rubble around him. Smoke started erupting from his body, covered up by the dust of his landing. Then he stood up, standing tall and intimidatingly before the villains.

 _Song: End_

 _I think I went a bit overboard, I'm out of time..._ The hero thought, the combat had left him drained. With what the villain had said about his accomplice, he had shown very little restraint, this had severely shortened his time for the moment. _...Only my words can make a difference now._

"Are you using a cheat!?..." Shigaraki spat, pushing himself up with the finger-severed hand. "Kurogiri! Take us home!"

All Might decided to lay the situation out clearly to them, not moving an inch simply because he couldn't. Neither he or they looked to be in fighting condition. Bakugo was currently twenty meters away. "You won't make it out to this. Surrender."

"I will..." The Warp Gate responded to Shigaraki in a hoarse voice. Suddenly spreading its mist-like body, agonizing as it was and groaning in pain and enveloped his accomplice in him. "This isn't over, All Might!" Shigaraki let his last, hateful words be before both of them disappeared entirely into the warp gate. There was a loud metallic creak from above.

All Might couldn't move after the encounter, and with Bakugo right by his side, his other form was at risk of being revealed... "Young Bakugo! Get to safety!"

The student looked at the above and released an explosion to propel himself far away from the plaza. Then, a flurry of glass, metal and rock showered down on the area. Luckily it was out of reach of the other villains. They would've been at risk of dying from it. It all harmlessly bounced off of the muscular hero, but for every second of it, he strained himself to keep his form going. That was until it all funneled out of the sky towards another figure. "Sorry to keep you waiting." Thirteen said, the space hero hadn't been quite as quick as Bakugo, but he and Kirishima arrived at the same time. The rubble, metal and everything else that was dropping on the hero was pulled into Thirteen's fingers, reduced to dust along the way and seemingly ceasing to exist. After a good twenty seconds, he stopped, and All Might as left standing among all of the other rubble that had remained.

"Thank you, Thirteen." The number one hero looked at him and gave him a sluggish thumbs up. Smoke continued erupting from his body. _Shit,_ g _et the students away, now!_

"Bakugo, Kirishima, gather at the front of the gate." Thirteen nodded to All Might and asked the students and motioned for them to move on and up.

The students left for the staircase, and there was a quiet pause before anything else could be heard.

 **"I, TENYA IIDA, CLASS 1-A REPRESENTATIVE, HAVE NOW RETURNED!"** Yelled Tenya from up by the gate, a whole squad of heroes had arrived to clear up the rest of the villains. All Might smiled for a while, but with some time, he frowned.

 _They slipped..._

* * *

With the announcement from Tenya, the heroes by the staircase approached him and told him that they'd take care of Aizawa. Some of the heroes fanned out to search the area, mainly Cementos, Present Mic and a couple of others. It seemed that Aizawa was bleeding heavily and his wounds were quite grievous even if his face hadn't been injured. His arms had suffered major damage, his legs had some nasty cuts, although exactly what made them wasn't certain. And then finally his face too, had received some damage, although it wasn't deadly or requiring surgery.

As Izuku turned and looked down the staircase at his hero, Aizawa decided to say some things while he was being laid out on a blanket. "You've got courage, kid. But don't be reckless, fight smart. I know you didn't break your arms with one of your blows back there, learn from it. Don't waste the potential."

"T-thanks, Aizawa-sensei! C-can I go and talk to All Might?" Izuku asked nervously, he knew the heroes likely wanted the rest of them to get to safety before they did anything.

Midnight strolled up next to both of them and explained. "I would save it for later. He's not that injured anyway. You may be able to meet him in the Nurse's office later today, you'll need to fix up your finger anyway."

"...I guess that's right..." Izuku admitted and sighed, he held his finger up to his face and inspected it. It had been broken by the use of his quirk, One for All. Using his fist, he had managed to control it earlier, perhaps he should just exercise on that feeling. That's what I should ask All Might about, how to control it.

Tenya shot a glance out from the staircase down to the plaza as he walked up to Midoriya. He looked concerned about something and asked bluntly. "Midoriya... What happaned to Maribel?"

"Y-you mean Merry?! W-well..." Izuku looked down at the ground and simply stayed silent.

"Well?" Iida's expression twisted from mere concern into distress. Either it was his loyalty to his classmates or it may just have been how close she had been to him the last couple of days.

"I-Iida, that villain hit her with enough power to match All Might. She can't be feeling well after that... He sent her flying between the Storm and Flood zones, into the trees..." Midoriya shamefully let out and looked back to the ground, he didn't want to sadden his friend. What's worse being that he could've prevented it. But not only did her aggressiveness and confidence deter from thinking she'd need it, Noumu completely surprised both of them.

Tenya gave him one long stare. Frozen in thought.

It took a good ten seconds before he moved again, turning around to move on over to the principal. The principal was overseeing the rest of the heroes who were taking care of the rest of the villains in the massive facility. When he got close, he bowed as orderly as he could before looking up again. His expression was completely serious.

"Principal, we have to get to Maribel! She might be fatally wounded! Midoriya says she was blown into the trees by the Storm zone!"

* * *

 _ZUN - Touhou 16: Hidden Star in Four Seasons - No More Going Through Doors_

...

...

...

Maribel stared off into the blurry dream world, she didn't know exactly where she was, all she could recognize was the stone temple grounds. She laid down. This time, everything was blurry, she felt strangely unconscious for some reason. From her memory, she could tell Noumu had struck her. But other than that, she didn't know why she was in the dream world. Did this mean she was still alive? Was this the afterlife? The dream world? Maybe the boundary between her real and dream self was just weak enough for this to occur.

She couldn't quite process what was happening. Maribel felt like she was dying very slowly and couldn't even decipher if she had injuries or not. Her sight did not let her. One moment it looked like she had been bleeding all over, the other, it all happened to be her imagination. She couldn't control it or properly react in this haze of a mental state she found herself in. The girl rolled onto her back.

The ethereal sky of the Dream World slowly shifted to darkness. Everything was black and Maribel nonchalantly accepted her fate with a poker face. Then it all brightened to a blue, there was no moon, no ground, no temple. Gravity left her, yet it felt like she remained in the same air pressure. Suddenly, she drifted past a number of doors, as ethereal as the sky. They looked like they were part of the temple that she was exploring just yesterday. Maribel shifted sluggishly and looked around. Out of the darkness that permeated this realm, she noticed the form of two similar figures. They left the darkness ever so slowly and got closer. Two girls as young as she was, wearing clothes that wouldn't be out of fashion in the 1800s.

Maribel had been here before, she had seen them before. One of them, a brunette wearing a bright pink dress reaching down to her knees, with a white bertha collar and white half apron. Maribel recognized her a little from her dream this morning. In her hand was a big leaf belonging to a plant. Maribel's eyes had been properly unlaid on the second one, who looked almost like her twin if not for a couple of differences. Green eyes, reseda green hair, dark green dress with similar bertha and apron to the other girl. Really, the only great difference was the color and some small details in the hairstyle. In her hand was a bamboo stalk.

"Our master has pulled you from the dream world to her realm to speak with you! Please listen." The brunette told her and took center stage, moving in front of her companion. Maribel could barely concentrate and didn't respond.

Both of the weirdly clad girls disappeared from her sight in a blinding white. Maribel felt clarity, almost like a near-death experience. She lingered like that for what felt like an eternity, her face either calm or in an expression of dull hurting and irritation.

...

...

...

Through the light, a voice coming from the vague outline of a person called out. Maribel felt the same presence that she did from the temple in that moment, and was awestruck at the sheer magnitude of it. It didn't feel like a quirk or an item, this feeling was much purer than that. She couldn't quite tell what it was beyond its familiarity to her adventures in the dream world.

It held its arms out to its side at waist level, revealing the silhouette of someone dressed completely unusually. The kind of wear you'd expect from the sengoku period. "I see you've fallen on hard times, human." A womanly voice reverberated all around her.

"Wh..." Maribel let slip from her lips.

 _Then has it crossed your mind that the god might be interested in you?_ Her memory of the baku rang through her mind. _Maybe this is a god?_ Its presence felt overwhelming, not unlike All Might in sheer magnitude. Even Doremy didn't make her feel this.

The light faded a little. Allowing Maribel to see just who she was looking at. The god took the form of a mature woman, easily a head taller than her, wearing a green skirt, yellow tabard with a pair of separate long yellow sleeves, along with a white undershirt. Her face was beautiful, with eyes bearing a similar color to Maribel's own. The god's blonde hair stretched far down her back.

"I am a god of hindrances, a god of outcasts, a god of stars, god of noh performance and the god of the disabled. To you, I will be the god of the rear door, Maribel Hearn." She explained and smiled warmly. "There are few individuals like yourself in this world, and it would be a misfortune to let someone like you wither away right here without fulfilling any purpose."

Despite the clarity, it was hard for Maribel to act at all, feeling like part of her was dying right at this moment. A double experience, she could vaguely feel what her real self was feeling. Worst of all, her dream self couldn't exist without her real self. If she succumbed to injury, she'd have no escape. This was effectively purgatory.

"I will give you a way out of your condition." She turned her wrist and offered an open palm as a gesture. Maribel managed to respond to this by jerking her head properly in the silhouette's direction. Speaking in a seemingly sympathetic, yet demanding voice. "Because of this, we will have to meet again soon enough. So please, remember my name. I am Okina Matara."

The schoolgirl took a deep breath before nodding, she accepted whatever aid this 'god' could give her. Maribel felt a burst of energy coursing through her spine, as if it originated out from her back. The heroine finally felt some actual clarity, and looked around almost normally, moving her limbs just like she normally would. Everything was absorbed into light again as she felt herself slipping from the door realm and away from the god. Left without any supernatural presence around her, feelings of gravity returned to her surroundings.

 _Song: End_

* * *

Maribel's eyes opened, one to total darkness, and one to a bright light surrounded by shadow. She immediately closed it, shedding some tears from the sheer pain that suddenly went through her body. Weirdly, her body felt like it could move, she wiggled her arms despite all the hurt. It felt like she was stuck in a bed.

The boundary girl didn't know exactly what the god did, but whatever it was, it returned her to consciousness. Slowly, she began to sit up, unwary of her surroundings. Covering half of her head and her her entire right arm was bandaging. Maribel seemed to be wearing some sort of robe, though she couldn't tell what. It also appeared that her mouth was covered by a breathing device. Her eye opened again. She began turning her head around, slowly and weakly, to face a mirror in the dark room she was in. Analyzing herself visually, she found that her quirk was still focused, giving her a purple iris. Around her were people and many devices, presumably for life support. The people looked like surgeons, or doctors, completely flabbergasted at her extremely sudden recovery.

Maribel Hearn took a deep breath, her chest rising and lowering. Stiffly, she reached behind her head and began to pull off her breathing mask. "Pfaaah... Pfuuuh..." She continued breathing. ... _How am I moving with this pain? Isn't my arm broken?_ The girl thought, eventually her thoughts went back to what happened previously. The fight. She remembered that her quirk had made her act more manic, she had far less remorse and took extreme risks to get what she wanted. After having disabled all three of her foes, and thinking she'd killed one of them, the aforementioned returned and had apparently crippled her.

She slouched forward and enveloped herself, crying. Experiencing the moments all over again, her quirk let her feel all that occurred in those split seconds due to her amazing reaction time. It had hurt a lot more than just her body. She hated it.

* * *

 **And there you have it. I dropped multiple hints for it but nobody seems to have gotten who exactly was interested in her. I'm not entirely sure exactly where I'll take this, but I may be doing some original arcs featuring some side characters that haven't really done anything. Also more interaction with other students. I know I have a lot of potential for things, especially since I'm still building on the 'future' versions of certain characters which in Touhou, we see around the 2000s. Rather than what can probably be calculated to around 2100s for BnHA basing off of quirk generations and such.**


	12. Chapter 11: A God's Miracle

It felt like she'd been at the hospital for weeks, but in reality she'd been here for a little less than one. Around 48 hours. Maribel's eyes stared at the white ceiling as she was lost in thought. Her peripheral vision was dominated by the entryway to her room and a window that showed solitary night, illuminated by the streets.

Her bandaging was less encompassing currently, but they still deemed she'd require it to recover despite her odd condition. The injuries caused her a dull pain, but she didn't feel any significant impairment to her movement or many of her bodily functions. Since significant parts of her skeletal structure had been fractured after she was hit, the doctors considered it almost magical. Although they did put quite a few bandages on her simply so that the damage could be more easily healed by this unexplained process. There was no quirk to allow for such in her registry and the one she actually had, Boundary Manipulation, had received more than a couple of big changes recently. Suspicious, that's probably what they're thinking.

Apparently she'd made the news, but she wasn't interested in interviews, having turned down quite a few of them. Not long after she recovered, Renko said via text that she was going to visit her today, the only thing she really looked forward to. Initially, they were going meeting on Thursday, but with the trouble at USJ, they had to delay it.

She sat up on the bed. "Pfuh..." Maribel breathed as she purposefully tried flexing her arm. She grimaced as she did, it was hurting, but she could move it.

 _I think her name was Okina Matara... What kind of god is that? God of the rear door?_ The boundary girl pondered, she knew for sure that the experience happened, something she was delighted with. Unlike with many her dreams before she entered the dream world, they were at least something she could differentiate. She sure did like having actual dreams over treading the dream world, though. If only it wasn't so intriguing.

Lingering on these personal thoughts, she was caught unawarely when a nurse entered her room. "Ah, you have a visitor. Do you recognize anyone who calls himself Tenya Iida?"

"O-oh..." Maribel let out as her thoughts were broken, but quickly realigned her bandaged face with the nurse's and looked at her. She felt a warm feeling inside her, and it almost made her sweat. "He's my classmate. You can let him in."

The nurse nodded and walked out. Some time later, footsteps could be heard and eventually Tenya Iida strode through the doorway. Maribel waved at him a little bit eagerly, which hurt but did not stop her. "Welcome! I wasn't expecting you to come. It's real sweet of you."

"Ah-ah... Well. I came here because I wanted to see if my classmate was alright. The news said you made a miracle of a recovery, and I thought it would be appropriate to visit... Speaking of, I also brought Midoriya-san and Uraraka-san. Would you be fine with them in here?" Tenya explained. He sounded as caring as he usually did, whilst being a tiny bit more mellow than usual. His wear looked like something a gentleman would wear casually, a nice blue t-shirt and fine jeans.

Maribel thought for a few seconds. She'd honestly like preferring avoiding having everything become too uncomfortable, despite being pretty much fine, having wounds like she did still tire her out. Not to mention, she had another friend on the way. "I'd prefer if only you were here, not that I have anything against those two." She answered a bit weakly and looked into his eyes for a couple of seconds. Then abruptly turning her head away with the same warm feeling she felt earlier lingering in her body. The boundary girl took a deep breath and looked back at him, now at ease. "...You see, I have another friend that was coming here very soon."

Iida was quick to get the idea. She had been through a lot, overwhelming her with too many people would probably just be irritating. In any case, he set out to do what he came here to do. "Well, I was going telling you what's happening at school. The media has been criticizing the school over the consequences of the villain's attack and been using you as a way to support their arguments. You still seem to be recovering very quickly, but that doesn't make much of a difference in their eyes... Put differently, they've decided to massively heighten security." He explained. Maribel had a mixed expression on her face. She both understood the reasoning and hated it all the same. It could've been anyone who took that crushing blow, the only real difference is that she did many damage to them all. All except that black... thing. Maribel shook a little, before calming down.

"Secondly, the school will be proceeding with the sports festival in two weeks. Although there have been minor complications due to the villain's attack. Aizawa also informed us that it was best we use the time to prepare." Tenya further explained. Maribel nodded. "I can give you my phone number if you want to keep up with stuff happening at school." He continued, which immediately changed Maribel's mood to be flustered.

"W-wh... Well! I suppose I might as well take it." She said, a dumb smile spreading across her face. "Give me a moment." Maribel blurted out as she rolled just a little to her side and grabbed her phone off of a table that was next to her clinical bed. She moved back and looked up at Iida for a couple of seconds, who returned her dumb smile for a moment. She forced her eyes to the black screen of her phone. Clicking the button on top, the phone lit up. A quick touch of the screen was enough of a password on the smartphone variant she used, then she'd quickly navigate to her contacts. A few clicks later, she was on the contact creation window. Her eyes wandered back up to him. "What's the number, then?"

"Right. Here it is..." He said as his eyes wandered around his mobile phone. Followed by reciting his personal phone number to her. "Nine-zero-five-three-eight..." Iida paused to let her catch up. "Nine-eight-seven-seven-four. You got it?"

Maribel felt inclined to make her admiration known, and was even about to express it. "Thank you, Tenya-k-...-san!" She let out, fixing her wording in a split second. Now referring to him by his first name, she more or less told him that she had definitely warmed up to him. He continued giving her a warm smile as she added him as a contact on her phone. He had no contact picture yet, but maybe that would be best fixed when she's back at school. They both paused for a bit and looked at each other, before Maribel shook her head and took another deep breath, making a new topic to talk about. "I'm sorry I got myself hurt at USJ, I just didn't think Aizawa-sensei could protect us forever."

"Well, that's fine and all. But he still told you to stay back, didn't he?"

"...Yes, he did. Should I just have let 'Noumu' crush his face, though? They would've gone after the rest of us next. I don't want to sound ignorant, but I felt it was between that and putting myself at risk." Maribel defended herself, a civil discussion.

Tenya Iida's gentle expression changed to a slightly stern one, he genuinely didn't want her to come to harm like she did. "Just promise me that you won't ignore the teachers again. I don't want you hurt, and nor does the rest of your friends."

The boundary girl decided to look away from Iida for a moment and thought back to the situation. Her face contorted to be filled with a hint of rejection. Something which was briefly replaced with some distress as she thought back to that single blow which took her out. It was honestly terrifying, in a way she really couldn't explain. She shook a little before looking back to Iida. "...I do."

The male student began to smile, which instantly lightened the mood for her. A smile found itself on her face as well.

There were some footsteps outside as the nurse came into the room again. "There's another visitor. It's that Renko Usami you talked about yesterday."

Maribel stared at the nurse as she mentioned her childhood friend. Suddenly, the aforementioned friend appeared next to the nurse. She was wearing a white shirt under it. Tied around the collar was a red tie. To go along with this, she wore a black skirt that reached down to a little before her knees. Adorning her head was one of her various different hats, this one was a black trilby with a single thick white stripe decorating it. In her hand was a brown handbag. _Must've been warm out today._

The nurse slinked back into the hallway. Renko eyed the room for a second before striding up to Tenya Iida, who was about half a head taller than her. "Greetings. I'm Renko Usami. I study math and physics at Horikoshi High School." She introduced herself and held out a hand for a handshake.

Tenya looked her in the eyes as he took her hand and shook it. "Tenya Iida. I'm Maribel's classmate. It's nice to meet you."

"So, did you come here because you were concerned about her?" Renko asked Iida and pointed at Maribel. It was an innocent question.

"Yeah. Also to tell her the state of affairs at school, since she's been here for a little while." He replied simply.

The boundary girl is suddenly reminded of something and decides to inform both of them. "The nurse said that I should be free to go from the hospital in two days if my recovery keeps the same pace. Recovery Girl was also going to come by later today."

"Oh, that's the old heroine, right?" Renko asked, she was far from knowledgeable on heroes and especially compared to the other two students who had classes on hero history.

Maribel nodded. "I've taken her healing before. Though the wounds that I got were more severe than back then, even if I can't really feel them anymore."

"I hope she'll help you recover within the week. Considering how good it seems you've gotten since the trial battle, missing two weeks of school wouldn't be good. After all, you almost defeated the villains on your own." Tenya praised her with a smile on his face and then suddenly broke into his more energetic character. "Now, you'll have to excuse me. My family wants me home very soon! Bye, Maribel!" He exclaimed, uniquely speaking her name with proper pronunciation. The boundary girl waved to him with a smile on her face as he left through the doorway and then turned her head to Renko.

Renko gave Iida a searching look as he left, then another one on Maribel. Closing the door, she sighed. The physics student stepped up closer to Maribel and sat down in a chair that was located next to the bed. She provided the first word to a more personal conversation, and they kept it down a bit as they talked. "So what about that new world you found with your quirk? You've taken me into dream-like places on occasion when we were younger and also taken things with you back, but this sounds different. You say you've entered your dreams, like you were awake in them. Is that unusual?"

Maribel looked more at ease than before, now that she could let her true thoughts loose. "Well, firstly, when I enter my dreams, I manipulate a boundary between my dream self and me. I've hypothesized that the less clear this boundary is, the realer the dreams I have. Not sure if I could remove such a boundary, but since I've begun trying to mess with it my bad dreams have mostly ended. My dream self is actually separate from me and wrote me a note for me to read when I woke up once. I'm not really sure how separate it is, as I'm able to experience things through its eyes... According to the baku, that's what's supposed to be happening when I dream, or anybody does."

The physics student put a finger to her chin as she listened, pondering. "So it's like an alternate version of ourselves."

"...That's exactly it, simplified at least."

"Hmm... And what about that world? The baku?" Renko continued with the fascinating conversation, her brown eyes wandering to the ceiling for a second and then meeting with Hearn's golden ones.

The boundary girl held her hand up to express better body language, a technique to gain ones attention. "Well, I've been to that world. It was similar to this one, reaching into space. I could see the Moon and the Earth. Walk on the latter and fly in space without the negative effects of it. The light was all weird, making the grass all weirdly pistache green, the sky was purple in the dead of night and so on. On the topic of the sky, it's littered with endless ethereal grids for some reason." She further explained the world in question. Renko continued listening as Maribel quickly began speaking again. "As for the baku. She calls herself Doremy Sweet. She's... alright, I suppose. Her presence makes me feel weird with my quirk, and she says I'm a youkai. Considering me different from the rest. I don't know why. But I went with her interpretation and pretended I am."

The girl made another short pause. "She wears a long red and white sleeping cap-"

"Like Santa Claus?" Renko humorously cut in. Something which naturally forced Maribel to snicker a little.

"Just let me explain." Maribel urged, she really wanted share her experiences. "And she wears a strange dress colored black and white. Almost looks like it was woven out of pillows or something. It's decorated with black and white wool balls too for some reason. I suppose that's an appealing design, but it looks like something you'd see a hero wear. And she has an actual tail of some sort, looks like something you'd see on a lion, except it's blue. Nonetheless, she claimed she ruled the dream world. How much of it? I don't know. But apparently she can eat dreams and take a peek in at them. I also saw her reshape them a little when I was there, which was interesting but not much came of it. I saw her flying when I first met her in that zero-G environment. Doremy's fast, too, she completely disappeared from my sight when I looked away just once."

"Interesting fellow. So she says she's some sort of ruler of dreams and looks like some sort of humanoid lion? Almost sounds like it's from a comic book. Very quick, too."

"I once had All Might rush up to my face, this is the only other time I've experienced the same kind of speed... Well, aside from the incident at USJ." Maribel justified her observation. "Anyway, her eyes were very similar to mine when I activate my quirk. Maybe there's some sort of correlation."

"To think we live on only one side of reality... Ah wait, no. This is reality, but that's the world of dreams, as you've said. Sounds more appropriate, doesn't it?" Renko cheerfully commented and beamed. "You make her sound very powerful, though. It must be quite scary to talk to someone like that."

"Indeed. I get a similarly overwhelming feeling from All Might whenever he has a class, just less sinister." The boundary girl replied. "The dream world isn't like a dream in and of itself as far as I understand it. It houses the dreams that we have and the alternate versions of ourselves that we dream through. While it is possible to dream within that world, as I did when I left that door realm, you scarcely do it, if at all." She pointed to herself as she referred to her experience. "It looks like a version of our world, just barren from our normal activity. Serene, in a way... Anyway, I should tell you about my most fascinating experience."

"Is this about the stalking you messaged me about?" The brunette inquired and raised her eyebrow, placing one leg over the other to sit more comfortably while she put her hands on top of them.

"You're right with the guesses today, Renko." Maribel commented and then put her hands on her lap. "When I entered the dream world few nights ago, I was chased by a feeling. You know, in the 'my quirk' kind of way?"

Renko snickered. "You make it sound like it's not so serious when it's worded like that."

Maribel couldn't help but smile again. "I'll try not making it sound like that. But anyway. I believe I was being pursued, and I recognized this feeling. I'm not sure when I exactly first felt it, maybe it was when I finished the entrance exam. Now, they led me to an ancient temple found in the middle of the woods. My quirk did not work there, and when I went investigating, I was... not exactly chased out. But some girl wanted me gone. I was a bit paranoid, so I ran and went back to reality."

"You told me about this in the messages. So you say you've felt this feeling for a long time? That's a bit of a concern, stalking isn't much of a laughing matter." The physics student warned.

"Hold on. I've got much more to this story. It happened after I was knocked unconscious. Instead of waking up at a later date, I think I was watching through the eyes of my dream self that time, as our boundary is supposedly faint. This is where one of those girls appeared. I could see her now. Not much older or younger than us, wore oldfashioned clothing. She had a friend too who wore green. They held plants in their hands for some reason, too. But this is only the beginning, they drew me back to the door realm, where I met someone far beyond anyone else I've ever met." The boundary girl shared her experiences. She was eager to tell Renko about this.

"Mhm." Renko nodded and urged her to continue on.

"It was a god of many things, like a god of stars. She told me to call her the god of the rear door. Her name was Okina Matara... And she just completely surpassed everything else my quirk has ever felt. Even All Might hadn't made me feel like that. It may just be because of the state I was in at the time, everything felt very vague and I was near-death, but her power was clear." Maribel made clear, she raised her hand towards Renko as she explained to gain more of her attention. The boundary girl took a deep breath and Renko understood that she was probably going to get to the most important part of this.

"This goddess offered me a solution to my current problem and proclaimed we will meet again because of it. Being stuck in the dream world with my dream self and real self being linked like that gave a way to a sort of double experience. My body was fine one second, ruined the other. It was unbearable, but this goddess stopped it with a thought. I felt something opening inside of me. It's a lot like the feeling of your back not hurting anymore... Well, I suppose that's a poor comparison. But something opened up inside of me and I felt a burst of energy. I could move, even with my broken bones. Then, I was sent back to reality. I woke up in this hospital." She finished and lowered her hand. "That youkai, baku, or Doremy Sweet as she calls herself. She said that gods need faith to exist and would therefore need to be of interest in the real world. According to her, humans today place their faith in the mundane and heroes, which isn't ideal for creating a god."

"All this sounds very fantastical, but your recovery was just that. We've dealt with a lot together and explored your dreams, but it's still hard to imagine that things like gods would indeed exist. Still, Merry, I believe you. You wouldn't have any reason to lie to me about this." Renko offered her opinion, while the student would like proof for most things, Maribel's quirk was the most curious thing she'd ever come across. And truly, her friend did not have much of a motive to lie to her, even if her story sounded almost insane. She adjusted her hat a little and pulled out a notebook and a pen from her handbag. "Now, I've got a few questions. Have you tried using your quirk since you woke up?"

"The doctors told me to rest and not use my quirk, as it could give me nausea. I suppose that's reasonable." Maribel answered plainly.

The brunette noted it down. "What can you tell me about your quirk in the dream world? How was it when you woke up?"

"Well, when I'm in the dream world, I ordinarily have my quirk focused to cross into it. Though when I was watching through the eyes of my dream self, I'm not sure if that happens. But when I woke up, my quirk was still focused, it took about an hour for it to return to normal despite not thinking about using it." The blonde recollected. Her eyes had most recently been a bit troublesome. After she had woken up, her eyes were active even when she tried sleeping again, all the way until she ate breakfast. Noticing it when she completely lost focus and spaced out enough that she couldn't even hear her dad.

"I think you should try your quirk out very soon, then. It may just be a baseless hypothesis coming from me, but I have the sneaking suspicion that whatever happened probably had an effect on your quirk as well." Her friend advised and noted the answers down very quickly. "Also, do you also agree with the nurse that you should be free to go soon?"

"Well..." Maribel muttered and threw off the sheet that she had on. Currently, she wore a light blue medical gown, that looked like it was styled a bit after traditional Japanese wear. Her side looked a bit bumpy as it was heavily bandaged, while her left arm was mostly enveloped in the stuff. Her head had a bit of bandaging on it, but it was not as encompassing as it was just after she woke up. Still, she swung herself over the bed and stood up as if nothing had happened. Feeling a bit humorous, she put her right arm to her hip while she moved her bandaged arm over to her forehead. She curled most of her fingers up while her middle and index finger extended and spread out a bit. Finally, she cheekily stuck out her tongue.

"Ah... Well! I guess you're fine!" Renko let out happily and almost laughing at the same time. It was just to jarring.

Maribel suddenly jerked a bit and yelped out. "Ow ow ow!" She let out and heaved herself back onto the bed and laid down, gripping her arm in pain for a bit.

"...Or not." Her friend said. Maribel quickly calmed down and took on a dumb smile as she grabbed the sheet and pulled it over herself again.

"I think I'll be out soon, even if I might still have to deal with the arm for a bit." Hearn said as she properly sat up again. "Anyway, I'd also like telling you that my quirk's been having some strange effects on me since the entrance exam. I've been feeling delirious and manic at times, though only when my quirk is active. The sun also irritates me a bit, though, only really after I've come out of a dark place."

"Hmm... Well, I'm not a psychologist. It's not so good to ask me. But you really should look into stopping those things from happening, regulate the use of your quirk or get some medicine for the occasion." Renko held out her hand as she offered her opinion.

Maribel shrugged. "I can't say you're wrong. I'll ask Recovery Girl about it."

"It's for the best." Renko tilted her head to the side with a smile on her face. She quickly looked back to the notebook and made some more notes before stuffing it all back into her handbag. Hearn was knowledgeable to understand this was body language to indicate friendliness, but didn't really detract from her falling for it. They both paused for a moment, trying to think of something to talk about, Maribel was the first to come up with something.

The boundary girl sighed and messed a bit with her blonde hair using her right arm. "Since the incident at USJ is all over the news, I guess I'll just have to become involved eventually one way or the other. I'm going to have to try hard not to make things worse."

"I'm going to guess the school will also want you to act some way to help them steer away from the fire. If you need any help with that, just ask them. They're a top school, after all." Renko commented.

"That's a good idea. It'll help with the anxiety of addressing the situation." The blonde replied, her eyes drifted to the darkness of night outside her window. She was feeling something out there. A quirk? No, it didn't feel like it. Different creatures felt different, that's what she had learned. A human felt real, like a stone of sorts. Youkai, like Doremy, had the same vibe as a cold night breeze. Gods or those servants, felt radiant, like the sun or a warm breeze. But whatever she felt now was like... swimming in or drinking pure water, or the light of the moon. Of course, these were all metaphorical comparisons, but she felt that they fit nicely. Maribel grimaced and looked out the window suspiciously. Nothing was done, however, as she gave up on her feeling for now. Whether it was something special or not, she wasn't in condition to do anything about it. "Nevermind."

"What was it?" Her friend asked.

Maribel responded pretty bluntly as she turned her head back to Renko. "Nothing important. I merely felt something."

A couple of footsteps resounded outside the hall as the nurse came back. "It's time to make some regular checks, to see you're doing alright."

"Well, I think now would be a good time to go home for the day." Renko said and stood up, grasping her handbag as she did.

"Bye, Renko!" Maribel raised her hand in front of her and rapidly waved a gesture of goodbyes. Renko did the same and then left through the doorway.

Just like that, the presence disappeared into the night. Maribel sat with her mouth agape as she felt for the presence, the person. She found nothing.

* * *

Two days went by, and Maribel finally had the okay to go home. Recovery Girl had come by and offered her some healing. Initially, it almost put her to sleep, but she rapidly recovered from almost all her injuries. What remained was only minor and would heal with time more than likely.

As everyone had told her, she was all over the news, along with the incident. When she got to school, she was directly faced with a crowd of reporters and had to carefully think of what to say.

"Someone would've gotten hurt." Was all she had to say about the situation and went through the rest of the crowd into the school. Knowing the security systems from before, they didn't follow after her.

When Hearn actually entered the school, her mere sight made people talk. They talked about her in particular. It felt almost like a callback to junior high where her quirk attracted many 'friends' and orbiters. She just hoped this wouldn't escalate to that. Eventually, she got to the classroom. The gigantic door was open, so she entered. Her tired eyes laid across the rest of class.

She had hoped to keep most of this private, and truly most of it were. But she was unspared of the most irritating effects of it all, the care and the popularity. Maribel never had a truly big problem with being the center of attention, but she hated being overwhelmed with people she didn't even know all that well.

Maybe it was just she woke up on the wrong side of bed today, or her irritation over the sudden burden she felt she had to carry now. Even if it was Iida, Ochaco, Momo, Kirishima or even someone unlikely like Bakugo, she wasn't in the mood for lots of attention right now.

"Merry! You're back!" Every other person called out, either in the aforementioned way or a variation.

She hated **that**.

* * *

 **Sorry if I'm not quick to update my longest fic, but I've also gotta find the motivation to do it. Anyway, the sports festival will be coming up, and Maribel is slowly getting sick of trying to play too nice with people. This doesn't mean that she's gonna abandon anybody, but she might be a bit more closed. Oh, and she likes Iida a lot, but I'm not going to let the fic veer into some shipping shit, I'd call it a side story at best and a supplement to her character's depth at worst depending on where I decide to take it. By the way, could you guess what she felt?**

 **I hope you enjoy.**


	13. Chapter 12: Saving Face

Izuku Midoriya faced the newly recovered classmate. She had healed against all odds and managed to almost defeat all of the villains at USJ. A heroic accomplishment, but her face told him that she wasn't so happy. The girl groaned lowly as she was barraged with questions from her other classmates, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Ochaco, Asui, Ashido and Midoriya himself. The rest weren't so eager to talk to her right now. Maribel's body language spoke of how tired she was as she quickly gestured with a swipe of her hand toward and away from the giant doorway. She frowned somewhat irritably. "...Can I get to my seat please?"

Some of them were abruptly silenced with her blunt words, which signaled to her that she was free to pass. The blonde moved through the doorway and over to her seat. Located just behind Bakugo, diagonally separated from Izuku's seat and two seats away from Yaoyorozu's seat. Immediately, she threw her arms onto the table and rests her head in them, clearly pondering as she stared down at her table.

The bearer of the quirk One For All wasn't so easily swayed from talking to people. When push comes to shove, he'd go and talk to his bully too. He wanted to save people and help their troubles. So he turned to look at her as she sat down. Iida had strode up next to him and did much of the same, but Izuku was the first to say something. "Is she alright? Shouldn't we talk to her?"

Iida's eyes fell down to look at Izuku. "She's our classmate. It's expected that we support each other." He said and walked on over to her. With the support of his friend, Izuku felt more confident to approach the girl. Normally he wasn't all that courageous around girls, but he'd have to learn sometime. After a few steps, they got close, and her eyes immediately went to Iida before Izuku. She wore the female school uniform of U.A and had little to no makeup, but looked fine anyway. Her shoulder-length blonde hair mostly tucked behind her ears with short bangs on the side of her face, with another hanging down just between her nose and left eye. Upon seeing them, she straightened herself out a little and put her hands on the flat plane of the table. Her figure was lacking at all, to the point where you could almost immediately feel the gaze of two other classmates in her direction.

"Uhh... Hello!" Maribel said as her expression became a strange meld of happiness and irritation as she focused mostly on Iida. She had a smile and a happy expression, but there was just something that lingered behind it.

"I see you're fine now. That's a relief." Iida observed and smiled. Izuku realized at this point that she was either far more receptive to him than the rest of the class or wasn't in the mood for talking with the entire class.

Izuku Midoriya decided to get to the point as cheerily as he could. "Uh... Merry, was there something wrong earlier? We're your classmates. You can talk to us, you know!" He said, which got the girl's attention immediately, she turned her upper body and her head to face him all of a sudden. Now she looked a little bit more irked, but perhaps also more curious. He almost flinched simply because of the way she shifted her focus. It felt a bit like when Ochaco started talking to him.

Suddenly the irritation completely drained from her face, and she looked very innocent and excused her previous behavior. She raised her hand along with her speaking, which made both of her classmates focus on what she said. "I'm sorry for earlier. Everyone's been wanting to talk to me, and I'm just a bit sick of it... My night's sleep also not been that good. Perhaps I just need getting back into the school life, too... Feels like I've been away for quite a while, even if it's only been a couple of days. Hehe..." She rubbed the back of her head, an expression of embarrassment.

The student with the glasses decided to talk a little. "If you want to get back into the feel of school, why don't you follow me around for the day?"

"Ah, you mean like eating lunch with you and your friends, things like that?" Maribel looked over to Iida, and then Izuku at the last word. Iida nodded, and she gave her answer, angling her head a little to the side as she did. "Why not? Maybe I could get some tips in regards to the sports festival."

Izuku humored her request immediately. "For the festival many classes seem to be wanting to measure up against us. It's safe to say they're going to be trying to beat us out."

Maribel decided to ask, less cheery now. "Which classes?"

Iida was the one to speak now, he looked a bit tense. "There were many people, but those that stood out most was the other hero course class and one student from the general department."

The blonde pondered on that for a moment. "I met someone from the general department some days ago. Who was it?"

"Well. He didn't tell us his name, but he had unkempt purple hair and looked like he's gone without sleep for a while... He told us to consider his presence a declaration of war. Seems like he wants to use the festival as a chance... A chance to transfer to the hero course!" Izuku somewhat eagerly explained.

The girl closed her eyes as she thought back to the last few days, her right index finger and thumb lining her chin in an expression of thinking. "On appearance, I would guess he's Hitoshi Shinso of 1-C. That's who I met the day before U.S.J..."

"You mean the day where security was breached?!" Izuku yelped out somewhat loudly, gaining some of Maribel's ill attention.

She responded somewhat coldly. "The cafeteria was pretty full, so I sat with whoever I could. Happened to be him. Anyway, the security went off, and I decided to avoid being trampled with my quirk. I took both of us to the woods just outside, relaxed a bit before we moved back into the building. Happened to see the entrance was destroyed when we did and informed Present Mic." Her eyes then flew to the side and the desk behind her, meeting with someone elses the moment they let loose a sound from their mouths.

"Relaxed? You sure that's all?" The voice of Mineta rang out from the desk behind Maribel, sounding very teasing. He sat by his desk while Kaminari stood right next to it. It looked like they had been discussing something without them paying attention.

"...Indeed." She reached for her pocket on her uniform and pulled a pen out. With a quick click and a bout of focus, she found herself energized and tossed the pen like a dart right at the desk. Mineta saw the pen quickly embedding its tip into the top of the desk and forming a slight indentation. What remained of its momentum sent it and its parts bouncing right into his face and made him yelp like a coward. No ink would spill from it, luckily enough.

"Hey! Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" He let out, but the girl merely ignored him.

Iida looked on over to Hearn, purposefully avoiding her eyes for whatever reason. "I know they're acting inappropriately, but you should apologize. Don't be so rude!"

With a sigh, Maribel pondered for a second, before commenting on his statement. "Fine, fine. I won't forgive if they try it again, though." Maribel turned herself back a bit and looked at Kaminari. Her dialogue was quick, cold and straightforward. Something in her voice added to its delivery, but none of them could really discern it. "Sorry if I hit you too hard. Please don't irritate me again." She closed her eyes and took a short breath before opening them again. But they didn't instantly change, they just started to lose their eerie purple color ever so slowly. With a hand on her table, she twisted her chair on over to the other two again. Maribel sounded a lot more satisfied and calm as she looked back to both Iida and Izuku. "So as I was saying, we found the gate all destroyed. We decided to give our opinion to the teacher and concluded someone would've had to have broken it down with a quirk. Turns out we were right. It didn't take much time for me to understand what quirk that villain had when I had to fight him."

Izuku began to talk. He was nervous. "Ehehe... Well, the other classes here also came to scouting us out... Since you got injured and almost fought them off, they must be eager to learn things from you!"

The man with the glasses gestured almost robotically to Izuku as to look away.. The girl began speaking a sliver of irritation, but hid it with some amount of apathy. Her classmates didn't quite pick up on this. "Hmph... I suppose that's just logical, but more trouble for me... Oh, my eyes." And closed her eyes again, draining all focus from herself with a long and drawn out breath. Once she opened her eyes, her quirk quickly became unfocused again, returning her warming golden eyes. Hearn looked at Iida and Izuku in the eyes for a moment as they looked back at her, she nodded and spoke somewhat cheerily again. Her head turned to Iida, angled a little to the side, as she lifts up her arms a little in an expression to gain his attention. "So, when's class starting?"

He looked back at the clock for a moment before looking back to her, right in the eyes. She visibly smiled just because of that. "Just a minute. We're having homeroom! Get to your desks everyone!" He said before yelling it out to the rest of them. Everyone quickly shuffled on over to their desks.

Izuku Midoriya walked back to his desk and sat down on his chair. He had savored the conversation a little, previously he hadn't really had a proper conversation with her. Now that he had, he felt like she purposefully avoided wearing her heart on her sleeve. Maybe it's just the irritation or her quirk, but he just felt like he had to talk to her about it. But had he the courage? It didn't seem like she'd be so open to talking right now. Previously, Izuku felt like he opened up in a tight situation... His face was somewhat stern as he thought about it.

 _I guess there'll be another time..._

* * *

 _So Shinso wants to challenge the entire class, huh... Maybe I could try getting some information out of him as well, I'm sure that if I said the right things, he'd swoon on over to an unannounced alliance. Was it so easy? Maribel had tried things like that back during junior high._ "Nnh... Leave it to the heat of the moment." Maribel tiredly moaned to herself.

"Leave what?" Aizawa asked. The teacher had been heavily bandaged after the incident at U.S.J, but his legs and his face were just fine. It's a relief that the villains didn't do more damage, at least she had something to be proud of.

"Oh, I was just thinking about the sports festival. By the way, we get time on the hero lessons to practice for it, right?" The blonde asked her teacher, he looked in her general direction.

Aizawa smiled a little. "Yes. I take it someone's been telling you about the activities at school while you've been gone. It's great the class is getting along at least."

Maribel almost expected such an analysis. "Yep! Iida-kun gave me his number to update me on what happened while I was out."

"Hm. Have you spoken to anyone else about the incident at U.S.J? The media has already decided to put out quite a few stories about the incident, some based on the police's divulging and some pure conjecture. We've requested of the police to keep some of the details of the incident secret, as well as details of your little battle. They also scrubbed a lot of your personal information from publicly available records to ensure your security. There's a reason why we don't want you to speak too much about the incident, just so you understand." Aizawa explained, giving her a watchful eye as he did. They kept pace down the hall, despite this.

Maribel blankly stated what she knew on the issue. Coinciding with this, her hand went to her, where in she ran her fingers through a couple of times to untangle some of it. "I've only really shared any details with Iida-kun."

It might not require a genius to figure out where they were walking. Maribel needed to consult the school about the incident to settle on what she could say to the media and other people. It was a move to maintain the reputation of the school from taking too much of a hit. A student almost dying at the hands of a villain while at the school grounds sounds absolutely laughable. Why should anybody believe in such a school? They'd have to prove them wrong, somehow. And she also had to excuse her behavior during the attack, as she defied Aizawa's instructions and threw herself into a deadly situation.

"I'll have to speak with him later, but it's not the worst you could've done..." Aizawa continued speaking. Maribel was a bit unnerved in talking to him personally like this, she felt a wrong word could easily land her punishment. "I've expelled students for less than you did back at U.S.J... If it didn't save me and my student's skins, it'd be completely unfitting of a hero. You have to learn caution and be less hasty."

Maribel decided to try and defuse the passive aggressiveness. "I will. If you want to be reassured, you could always try and give me some of your own teachings."

"That might be rational. We'll have to save those thoughts for later, we're almost at the Principal's office." He replied. Meanwhile, Maribel's thoughts drifted off.

 _He's correct, I need to be more cautious. And honestly, it's not my fault that I am not, it's my quirk. For such a versatile tool, I barely know how to use it. Only recently did I think about using the vacuum it creates to use fewer harmful means of fighting and subduing. Using fists and feet feels more natural to me, but it's unsafe. My ability to make a boundary split something that passes through is a lethal attack, I don't even need to think all that much to coordinate it anymore. Something that can instantly kill. I'm sure if that Noumu..._ Maribel thought back to her very short lived encounter with its fist. _...Couldn't regenerate, they would've expelled me after the incident. Perhaps I'd be put in a juvenile detention center. Not the greatest of destinies to strive for. The law doesn't support the full potential of my quirk, and I understand precisely why that is. But I just don't like it..._

Her dreams most recently had been most interesting, she'd found herself in what she remembered as an old dream. Before she managed to find out the true ability of her quirk, before she talked with Renko about the idea of a clear reality. There was a dream where she encountered an unusual mouse... Or rabbit, she couldn't quite remember. With a humanoid face, it was absolutely terrifying, extremely so considering Maribel's age at the time. It laughed and forced her into a sprint, but she got nowhere. Trapped in a never-ending bamboo forest, Maribel Hearn had run into a girl who was aflame. No, rather, she was emitting fire from her entire body. It engulfed her, made her look a terrifying beast. Her younger self had gazed into the brightly glowing eyes of this burning woman and was scared all the same, hiding instead of thanking or talking to her.

In the far later followup to this dream, it was daytime. The same infinite bamboo forest of old, now something which she could see clearly. It was a delightful experience. In the real world, Maribel had never once visited a bamboo forest, the ones that exist were small remnants of what once existed. They managed to survive the century where pollution ran rampant, barely. There was no sound but nature, the birds sang and the insects hopped where they pleased. There was no car, plane, city or person to be heard. That was until she ran into the girl who's face she remembered from that dream. This time, she wasn't burning. She wore red patterned hakama. Her hair was white and decorated with the same kind of charms. If it wasn't due to her quirk, she'd guess she was some sort of youkai, but this girl felt as human as they come. Even if she felt something slightly off, like she held a quirk of sorts. She's a bit masculine, though.

 _Introducing herself, this woman was Fujiwara no Mokou. I had never heard of her, but I felt like I had read a similar name somewhere before._ _I know a thing or two about this place. She said and offered her hand and to lead me out of the woods. Not wanting to act like a total stranger, I accepted the offer. On the way out, we talked only a little. During a pause we took, I brought up my dream and how I recognize her face from before. I even thanked her. Yet, she said that she'd never recognized my face anywhere, even if her description seemed accurate. Truly, she was a mystery. I felt like she wasn't lying, her face nor her body language told of such. These dreams are always so confusing, I've always wondered where they take me. I decided to ask her which era it was, she told me it was Kamakura. So I didn't even meet her on that day? I met her in the past, apparently... The walk wasn't all that long, and I didn't have the courage to ask her more stuff, since it felt like she was in somewhat of a bad mood. My dream ended there, but I just can't get it off my mind._

* * *

"Here it is." Aizawa mumbled and opened the door to the Principal's office. Both of them stepped in to the view of a table, two sofas, a window out over the city, an office desk and the visage of the Principal Nezu behind it.

"You're finally here, take a seat." He spoke, the humanoid mouse's voice as soft as the fur on his exterior. Maribel thought he looked weird, as with almost all mutants, but she could bear it. She nodded and made her way on over to the sofa that was closest to her. Nezu got off of his chair and walked out from next to his desk. As he stood next to the sofa, he looked to Aizawa and said. "I'll handle it from here."

"Alright then." The teacher replied, turning around to leave through the door and closing it behind him.

The principal moved to the sofa in front of Maribel and began to converse about real matters. "It has come to my attention that you decided to make a move to save your teacher and fellow classmates at the incident last week. An admirable effort. It appears you were mostly successful too. However, you also put yourself at tremendous risk, which did not go in your or our favor. As a hero school, it's most damaging for the villains to even be able to make intrusions into our grounds, let alone seriously hurting one of our students. While the media is seldom harboring ill intentions, they play a large part in public perception. I'm sure you understand that, Maribel Hearn-kun."

"I do." Maribel said, she held a stern interior now, but her exterior was as passive as she could make herself. _He speaks mostly important things, meaning that he likely won't be beating around the bush with this conversation. Not only that, but he can pronounce my name properly. In a way, I feel at ease, but he may also be a lot smarter than I take him for._ "I knew about the risk and it's what I believed had to be done." She replied, briefly moving out her arm and giving the Principal an open palm before withdrawing it. That way, he would remember and not go on a tangent about it. Maybe that was just her perception, but she had some experience with stuff. "But I must apologize for the trouble I have caused." She continued, standing up and giving almost ten seconds to an apologetic bow. Placing her hands together while she bowed and then slowly returning to her normal posture after three seconds of holding it. Then she sat down as calmly as she could.

"Apology accepted. We can only hope to reassure the security of the school. You may be able to play a part in that, it might make everything much easier for us." The Principal uttered in the same tone as before. He grabbed a cup of coffee that sat on the table in front of him. _Must've moved it there in advance, he thought ahead._

 _So he wants me to be a pawn in his plan. I feel that denying him such would shower me with a worse situation. But I'll have to at least listen to it._ "Tell me what you have in mind, Principal-sensei." Maribel requested. She felt herself on guard, being weighed with responsibilities wasn't her ideal situation.

"Your words to any media presence will have to coincide with what we will tell them in the future. Currently, we're to give them new information as to clear it all up and let it fade into memory, and that's where your part will be most important. It's required that you help diminish the perceived incompetence of our school, the villains were quite formidable after all. Even so, you managed to do serious harm to them on your own. All Might was the one required to defeat their trump card, Noumu. None of the students at U.S.J and only one of our teachers in the school were capable of defeating it. The public does not know how much damage you did to it, so they will think you were simply incapable of handling such unfortunate circumstances." Nezu calmly explained, it was entirely expected that he had a lot to say. _So far, it doesn't seem like he's being too demanding..._

"Wouldn't that make me look incompetent, though?"

He scoffed a little and took a sip of his coffee. "Not exactly. Their identified leader, Tomura Shigaraki and his accomplice Kurogiri were both repelled in large part to you. In turn, you were of much aid to Aizawa, even if you were also a liability. My analysis of the situation concluded that it would likely have ended worse for him if he kept fighting alone."

After a short pause, he continued. "Another thing working in our favor is the public does not know All Might was supposed to be a part of the lesson. We know they somehow managed access to information regarding the teacher's assignments, but we have also concluded that no file transfer was made on the file between computers and no memory storage had been inserted into them either. They had simply viewed the file. There is a lack of reliability for any media to take it seriously if the information they have spread online. Using this as evidence of a teacher neglecting his duties and thereby putting his students at risk will not be taken seriously. We can be safe from retaliation, making our mission entirely oriented around making the mass media look foolish."

"Mhm. I get it." Maribel nodded in understanding."Well, is there anything else?"

"There is actually. With the sports festival just two weeks away..."

Maribel froze on the inside. _..._

"The first-year students have begun scouting your class to improve their chances. Your competition will be fierce this year, not only between your classmates, but also from other classes. From your performance at U.S.J, everyone will want to understand what exactly made you able to take center stage. It's clear you did more than just rise up to the villains, you drove them back. Such a thing cannot be said of most students in this school." Nezu spoke and took a long sip of his coffee, closing his eyes and preparing himself. _This is what I hadn't hoped for! Placing faith in me to hold up the reputation of the school?! On one person?!_

When he was done, he put it down and looked as serious as a mouse person could be. His voice changed to fit the mood. "The people, the media and your fellow students expect you to be one of the best. Based on your apprehension test performance and the incident at U.S.J, I have to agree with this. Participating may present a problem, but also an opportunity. If you can show the world that you were capable enough to handle things that even the teachers couldn't. We may be able to alleviate the pressure put upon us by the masses much more easily. Prove to them at we were caught without awareness of their strength and that still, you were able to hold your own."

Maribel couldn't take more of it. It almost felt like she was being talked down to if she just blindly accepted his words. "Isn't it a bit extreme to put all this pressure on just one person?!" She raised her voice a bit, casting a somewhat light shrug in tandem as to question him. She then lowered her hands to her lap again. "I can handle only being able to tell the media what you've told me to tell them. But staking your reputation on one person sounds a bit risky don't you think?"

"I can see why you'd think that. But the thing is, whether you fail or don't participate, the result is the same. The masses will believe you were too hurt to be part of the festival, or grossly incapable and reckless if you have poor performance. Then, they will pin that on us. However, if you do participate, you will at least present us the chance for an easy way out of this. As long as you are capable of keeping your quirk's mental effects in check, everything should be alright." Nezu retorted much more calmly than she did.

 _...Really!?.. Agh, come on! I don't want to deal with this... But I can't say he's wrong, he thought about this much more than me. He even read up on my quirk too, must've been keeping an eye on me for some reason._ Hearn thought and groaned lowly, straightening herself out a little. "...Fine, I'll have to go along with your plan."

"Then it is settled. You may ask some of our teachers to help you train yourself in this endeavor. Should they be available, they may come to you during the hero lessons. That's when you have time for it. Remember, we expect you to perform at the top, perhaps even number one." Nezu concluded. "Now that we are done, you may go have your lunch."

Maribel stood up and gave him another bow, much faster this time, as a sign of goodbye. "Thank you, Principal-sensei."

He stood up and returned the favor. The girl then turned and left after opening the door. Just outside of the office, she placed a couple of fingers to her forehead, looked down and let her hair fall.

 _I hate it._

 _But I have to bear it._

* * *

 **And here it starts off. It took me a bit of time to get around to writing it, but it's somewhat of a habit at this point. I plan to introduce more stakes later into the story, but currently she's stuck with a school specific one that'll mesh better with the other students.**

 **I had also planned to write out a piece where Doremy actually starts to do something about Kurogiri being stuck in the dream world, as to get things rolling on a side-plot involving the villain side of things. But maybe I'll save that for later, towards nighttime. The day hasn't ended in this chapter, after all. I do think that this chapter could've used some more polish, but I think I'll fix that at later date.**

 **Oh, and to the people who guessed Junko on the last chapter, I'll go ahead and say that you're wrong. Whoever it was isn't quite that important on her lonesome.**

 **Remember that I don't have any problem with constructive criticism, so leave a review if you have anything valuable to say. Have a nice day.**


	14. Chapter 13: Reaching Out

_Ah, foreign food. It's great to have some variation every once in a while, else the taste would dull. I might not be in the preferred course, but I can't be dissatisfied with this. Money well spent._

Shinso brought his food plate to the forward and was immediately given what he came for. The lunch put on the tray was put into wider bowls, with a properly crafted knife and fork on the side of it. Spaghetti Carbonara, an Italian pasta that had its birth after the second world war.

After that was done, he walked on over to the next counter and picked his drink. He settled for water above all else, if you want to stay hydrated there's no reason to go for something completely unhealthy. Shinso himself thought his decision was funny, since he had only recently started exercising for the sports festival.

He put the glass down on the food tray and started walking towards the seats. His eyes were weary, but still, he felt like he could feel everyone around him. Honestly, he also felt a little paranoid. None of them would like his quirk, he could tell.

There was a very soft rustling sound, and a soft feeling of something touching Shinso. Nobody accidentally ran into him, that feeling was a touch. Sharp, yet so sudden and delicate.

"Hello!" Maribel Hearn greeted her acquaintance, who was very surprised by her reappearance and turned ever so slowly, not wanting to spill out the pasta on his tray. "I'm back."

"Wh-whe... Weren't you in the hospital?" He asked with a surprised expression. He wasn't going jumping because of her stealthy antics.

"I was and got better. How it happened is not something I understand myself." Maribel said, her visage turned curious as she held her food tray in one hand while placing a finger to her chin.

Shinso didn't know exactly why she did so, but it was only an unconscious thought in his mind. It definitely got his attention. "Well, it's fine either way. That's what matters the most." He spoke, cold as usual. Even if he wasn't seeking friends at the academy, admitting it to her felt somewhat inappropriate. It only felt natural to appear friendly.

Maribel gave him a warm smile and then continued talking. "Well, I'm just in more trouble ever since I got back. The media wants me. The principal wants me, the teachers want me... The other students are probably eager to tell everyone that they saw me, too." She waved her hand in the general direction of the seats. Shinso briefly turned his eyes to the seats, where many people shot them glances every once in a while. "Good thing very few people outside this school recognize me, or else I'd be swarmed by the media like the entrance was last week."

"Did you say the principal wanted you?"

"Yup. Something about maintaining the reputation of the school. I can tell you more about it sometime after lunch." Maribel gleefully expressed. She seemed to relish in conversation from his perspective, how inviting.

"Well, I'll see you then." Shinso tilted his head to the side and formed his lips into a barely visible smile.

"Same. Bye!" The blonde said and waved her hand at him, then letting it fall gently from chest height down next to her waist again. Hearn then began strutting away towards the tables.

 _...Maintaining the reputation of the school?_

* * *

"By the way, Merry-san. Why did Aizawa-sensei take you away after the lesson?" The ever curious Izuku Midoriya asked his classmate. The girl had a frown hidden behind her face. She didn't like people who tried to nose their way into her business without her allowing them to do so. Perhaps this was a somewhat irrational and enlarged reaction from what a person normally would feel, most likely in part due to the bad experience with her dreams. It's only natural you don't want to be seen as some villain with a backstory already in the making. She would be embarrassed if it was ever brought up. In Maribel's thoughts, all of this was good enough a reason to gain mastery over conversation and make it bend to her will. Both that and understanding herself and her dreams are what made psychology into an on-off hobby for her, she owned quite a few books on the matter.

But sometimes the other person can make things easier. This was what Maribel wanted to talk about anyway, but not so soon. She'd just get straight to the point. Her eyes darted to the three who sat around her, Iida, Uraraka, Midoriya. "The principal wanted to see me so we could go over some things related to U.S.J."

Maribel was ready for a followup in case nobody brought anything else to the conversation, but Izuku proved curious again. Maribel could see in the eyes of her other classmates that they wondered, too. "...The principal? If it's U.S.J, I guess that makes sense... What'd you talk about?"

The blonde felt happy the moment someone did exactly what she wanted with minimal input from herself. She raised her arm up to chest height and immediately explained. "Because the mass media has been attacking the school almost nonstop for its inability to stop me from coming to harm, they wanted me to make them look better. I'm the central figure."

Ochaco decided to stop eating for a second and comment. "That's how media's always been, praising the first second and trashing the other. Pretty sure they just chase money."

Maribel shrugged. "That's pretty much what the principal told me. To make the school look better, he told me that I should aim for the top in the festival. That way, I'll demonstrate I wasn't helpless and that the villains at U.S.J were out of our scope as students. Nobody but All Might could've defeated that thing, after all. It may as well have been an unfortunate accident. Along with this, it's an excellent opportunity to display what I've learned from my troubles." She somewhat seriously explained, gently waving her arm in rhythm with her words to garner their full attention, something which garnered great success. Hearn lowered her arms and put her right hand over her face. "Honestly, it's all so much. I just want to relax a little after recovering..."

The boundary girl felt a hand on her shoulder and removed the hand from her face to look at Iida. Tenya swallowed the food in his mouth and started talking. "You've got two weeks, Maribel-san." He pronounced her name properly and without the nickname, so she couldn't help but smile. "You're the fastest in our class on the short run. Ran for as long as I could on the same distance. Threw the ball further than everyone but Uraraka-san. You saved Aizawa-sensei and kept up with him in a team battle, too, and almost succeeded where he failed. You're an inspiration to the class, you know. Don't stress, you're already one of the greatest."

 _I am?_ Maribel thought, she hadn't talked the large lot, so she hadn't noticed yet.

Everything from his masculine jawline, to his earnest expression captured her. So she couldn't help but feel happy. "Thanks. I really mean it." She looked over to the rest of them. "Is there any way any of you could help me with all of this?"

The blonde's words came naturally, and she wasn't plotting her words at this point. She said what she wanted to say, but in this conversation she definitely knew they would all try their hardest. The festival was an opportunity after all, one that no one wanted to miss. Maribel understood, that's why the point of it wasn't to turn people to her side. It was a seed of doubt, did they want to aim for the ultimate glory or would they throw it away for her and the school's sake? Making your friends open to favors was important, you needed to connect with them and make them understand your reasons. For her, the situation was a perfect storm to do this. What mattered wasn't the outcome at the moment. It was merely they grasped the reality of the situation. Was it manipulation? In a sense, but there was no reason to think ill of it. Helping the school could be seen as a benefit to them.

Ochaco turned her brown iris' to meet Maribel's golden. She was a little bubbly as she began talking. "I'm sure that's everyone's going to try try their best, but if the principal wants you to help the school with your performance, I'll help you."

Pleased was what Maribel was, finding herself with an innocent smile.

"If it's like you say, then I can't say no to helping you." Tenya pushed his glasses back into place and moved his hand from the shoulder and onto the table.

Maribel's smile grew to its apex, something that almost anyone would probably say looked very cute. Her eyes drifted to the last person sitting there at the moment. Izuku Midoriya. His eyes had gone to the table, where he muttered lowly to himself. She placed one of her hands on the table and tapped a finger against it.

Just then, he lifts his face up. This time he looked stern, something she hadn't seen on his face before. "To rise to the top is the goal here. We will have to compete. Show the world that we are here for them! I won't slow down to let someone get past me..." He said, full of both self-confidence and a weird sense of leadership. Slowly draining her smile away from her face. His voice suddenly mellowed out a little. "...B-but that doesn't mean we can't help you!"

With a poker face, she dulled her reaction. It didn't matter all that much. His words throwing a sliver of doubt might make them start thinking differently of the situation but it didn't get rid of the potential. In the end, it'll probably make all of this easier for her. Her face lit up again, perfectly replicating the smile from before. Then she'd bow, just a little. "Thank you."

* * *

 _I think I'm gonna go buy some soda on the way home. That'll freshen me up._ Maribel thought as she picked up her backpack. For once, she was pretty happy. In the morning, she expected everyone to be clingy. Almost exactly like it was in junior high at the last year. Her appearance, her quirk, the stuff she could do. Anyone would want a friend like that. Someone who could be a hero. Contacts and personal relationships made society, and those who had the best would have it best.

 _Maybe they pulled me out of it..._ The images of Iida, Uraraka and Midoriya came into her thoughts. It was a fun experience to talk to them. It cheered her up a little if she was going to be honest with herself. That said, she didn't like how Midoriya acted at times, he just stands out in a way she doesn't like. Her mind continued drifting to the miscellaneous thoughts of the day, she helped some of her classmates with English after the teacher's presentation was over. Reached out to Momo for help with math, oh, Momo. Maribel wanted to talk to her some more, she acts a bit like a rich girl, not that there was anything wrong with that.

She began walking out of the class room, she had thought about trying to catch Momo before she could go and tell her about her troubles. Maribel figured they were friendly enough for her to understand. Unlike, for example, trying to get Bakugo on her side.

Ectoplasm, the math teacher, passed Maribel and stopped right outside the doorway for a moment and conversed with the familiar voice of Eraser Head. This prompted Maribel to look outside.

"Oi. Merry-san. I need to talk to you." The stoic voice of the teacher, Aizawa, called out to her just as she was about to leave the classroom. Ectoplasm and her classmates left faster than she could notice, but if Aizawa wanted anything from her, it had to be important.

He walked inside the room and closed the door behind him. "Firstly, the principal would like it if you could conduct an interview for the press tomorrow. He wanted you to be prepared for it and will brief you on what you can and can't say before it's scheduled."

"Ah- I'll just have to do it..." She shrugged, not so happy about the prospect.

Their homeroom teacher walked on over to the digital black board and opened one of the drawers found at the teacher's desk. His hand searched through a couple of documents before pulling out a letter and handed it to Maribel. "Your costume was partially destroyed during the attack on U.S.J and needs replacing. So we're offering you the chance to redesign it before a new one is produced with new specifications in regards to your quirk and so forth. The company under contract should remain the same unless something drastic changes. Most of all..." Aizawa explained, shutting the drawer and staring her in her golden eyes. "I'm giving you some advice on how to make it better."

"Uhuh. How come you're giving me advice on the costume, though?" Maribel took the letter and read the outside. It spelled **Clothing Allowance** in Japanese. Before Maribel started her first day in school, she submitted a design that was largely about her own fashion. It did focus on some things, like ease of movement, mitigating her nausea. Maribel herself had noticed that making use of a skirt like that also gave her the ability to concealed her movement more easily. Building into unpredictability, a great strength of her quirk in combat.

Aizawa placed a hand on the table as he spoke. "After you were carried to the hospital, I was given the opportunity to the design a look over. Come over here." He pulled open another drawer and a blank paper in the process. He swiftly located a pen and started drawing. Maribel stood by his side at the desk. "When you started making use of that new super move of yours back at U.S.J... What do you call it?"

"I call it Double Boundary and Charming Double Boundary respectively." Maribel shed a tear of sweat from her forehead.

"Right. Well, your Double Boundary managed to blow away quite a few villains and didn't even have any severe effect on yourself... Tell me, how bad are your stamina issues now? Recovery Girl told me that you've been undergoing some sort of quirk training." Eraser Head asked, he began to draw the sole of a shoe, probably part of the design.

Maribel thought for a second, bringing her thumb and index finger to her chin. "There really isn't a single person who gets the intricacies of my quirk." _Except for maybe Renko._ "Two different forms of stamina exist with my quirk. When I badly manipulate the boundaries or manipulate them too much in some cases, they become fuzzy and it becomes harder to focus on them. I doubt there's anything a costume or lens can do to solve that. That's why I've technique."

"Then the other form of stamina must be your own." He replied, quite simply. He kept sketching very roughly.

"Well, by the..." Maribel remembered the shock of the blow that took her down and found a chill down her spine. "Ah-... Ahem. At U.S.J I approached my limit by the end of it, since I remember the taste of blood in my mouth. Whenever I am too demanding with what I'm doing, I get nauseous. It can be the Double Boundary, trying to cross too much of a distance at once or making too many gaps in a short time. There's a relatively quick recovery time, but it's a death sentence in a serious battle. If I decide to go beyond, it starts hurting from deep within and I start bleeding from the mouth. I've only recently started noticing that, though. Compared to the test you did, I'd say I've improved marginally."

Aizawa began writing next to the sketch of the sole. "Pro heroes that are faced with difficult odds tend to find themselves cornered eventually, once their quirk runs out of steam. Sustaining an entire battle without slowing down is good performance for a quirk, exactly like you did. But would you say you could've kept going after you sent Shigaraki flying?"

 _Oh, his name was Shigaraki, I forgot._ Maribel quickly looked over the writing on the paper. Something about grip. She looked back to Aizawa and thought of a reply. "It wouldn't have taken much out of me to attack that walking garbage sack like I did when I first entered the fight. With the chance to react, it would've gone down again. Comparing this all to All Might's simulated battle, I held out much longer."

"I'm glad to hear that. It sounds like you've improved somewhat. The battle you had during All Might's class was a playground scuffle in comparison to the one at U.S.J, it's easy to make the distinction. So you're more capable now you were before, that's for sure. Anyway, look here." Aizawa finished writing the details of the first change in design. "In order not to make missteps while using your quirk, I'm replacing your normally flat soles with ones that are made to grip hard. If you can hold a still position, you'll have an easier time focusing on attacking, even when you do it through one of your gaps. When fighting, I want you to have ample of time to understand the enemy rather than recklessly tossing yourself into close range. Your quirk works exactly for those kinds of situations."

"Mhm." Maribel nodded. "I'd like to say I get stronger when my quirk is focused. Focusing on attack power could be good."

"I was getting to that. With your quirk, attacking with kicks becomes incredibly easy, so attaching heavier soles and tips to your shoes would help you with that." Aizawa drew some circles around the areas he specified. "This could work." He smiled as if he was trying to make a joke. His demeanor returned to normal the instant thereafter. "I remember you broke that villain's nose when we fought together, so obviously your upper body strength isn't too bad when your quirk is focused. If you want to further increase your attack power, isn't it logical to request a weapon?"

"I guess. What kind of weapon would suit me, though? I don't want to make someone bleed out. Cutting deep sounds like a bad idea." The blonde thought. She waved her hand in front of her a little and thought a little.

The teacher sat and looked at her for a moment, with an uninterested expression, but there was something below that exterior. "You could be like the police and make use of a baton, or something like it. Although, given how you've been wanting to style yourself, maybe you'd like a substitute."

"Give me a moment to think about it." Maribel requested and put her thumb and index finger to her chin, closing her eyes. A short ranged weapon could undoubtedly move faster than a big one, but what she needed wasn't speed. She wanted a variable option, one that could repel an opponent that's too close and one that could seriously sting when attacking with. What'd work? Maybe it could have more purposes, like concealment. Hiding a gap in an umbrella sounded interesting in her head.

Her thoughts wandered, Aizawa sketched, a minute went by.

"What about an umbrella or parasol of sorts?"

"You have the strangest ideas."

* * *

 **I'm thinking I'll keep the preparations for the tournament to one and a half chapters more of similar or longer length. Next chapter will definitely be longer than this one if I'm going to cram most of the stuff I want into it.**

 **By the way, Aizawa came to her with advice because Nezu asked him to get closer to his student. This is so she'd be more inclined to take his help the next day. He could easily just have taken her to the principal and gone over the basic stuff there and leave her to figure out the costume herself.**


	15. Chapter 14: Finding The Secrets

**This chapter was supposed to be part of a much larger chapter, but I feel like putting in too much time at once will just tire me out. Thus I've split this chapter in two. Even the storyboard I've got for the next is almost half as long as this entire chapter.**

* * *

Heroes were an irritating sight found in his dream. All Might, Eraserhead, Maribel Hearn, Izuku Midoriya. Their archetypes melted into a dozen different characters populating his unconscious vision. In turn, himself, Kurogiri, his master, noumu and more did so too as a counterbalance.

What happened and what mattered in the dream did not leave a mark on his memory. It was a long conflict of his imagination. However, that was about to change. All of his dream stirred inside his mind, giving him an imagined sight.

Before him came a beast or a woman. She wore a nightgown made of bed sheets, black and white, and a red night cap. Behind her was a tail with a puff of fur on the end. The rest of her, or its appearance, refused to stick in his mind.

 _You need not worry about the gap youkai... She will heed to my rule..._

The familiar face of Maribel Hearn presented itself before him and then muddied into the black of his dream.

 _If you dream evil... Chant... Baku-san, come eat my dream. Thrice._

* * *

"...Kurogiri, you've been unusually calm today. Did the girl give you a bad status effect or something?" Shigaraki asked his accomplice. They were in the bar like usual, with Kurogiri maintaining the counter like usual.

"Hm? Tomura Shigaraki... I had been meaning to tell you this after I was done cleaning up the glasses. How sloppily it looks like I've been doing it... What the hell happened since USJ?" The black shadow asked as he held a glass up to his face, inspecting it for any dirt. Afterwards he pulled out a retractable sink from below the counter. It was neatly stylized as to not look completely out of place.

Shigaraki looked up at him, the hand covering his face concealing his expression. "What the fuck do you mean?"

The villain faced Shigaraki and looked down at him with his glowing streaks for eyes. "It feels like I've been dreaming and day dreaming since I ambushed them at the stairs. Until I woke up today, it's been like that. I saw a woman-like beast with a tail, clad in black and white just before."

"So that's it..." Tomura said to himself and removed the hand on his face. He looked angry as he glanced at his right hand, an index finger missing from it indicated that his quirk would be unable to activate on his right hand. Master had told him that it would be fixed soon enough, but that didn't stop him from thinking back. "...Baku-san, come eat my dream. I met her too." He stated, almost with a hint of irony. Kurogiri let out a hum as he did.

Kurogiri washed the glass and then cleaned it with the towel. What dirtied it was washed away very easily, sticking to the cloth weirdly enough. Afterwards, he shook it over a trashcan that was just nearby. The material of the cloth let go of the dirt, letting it trickle down into the bin. The shadow turned his head back to Shigaraki. "So, you too."

"She told me to not beware of the gap youkai, who will heed to her rule. I recognized the face of that student, the one who chipped off my HP." Shigaraki continued the conversation, he highlighted his wounded hand.

The shadow looked somewhat surprised, even if you couldn't tell it that easily from his formless body. His body tensed up a little and he subtly moved his arms back. "So they are related?"

"Perhaps. It's been a while since it felt like I unlocked a secret... Kurogiri, give me something to drink. I have a call to make." He said, turning to look at the TV.

* * *

"Baku-san, come eat my dream?" The voice of his master called out through the inbuilt speaker on the TV. "Old Japanese legend. Although, hearing it again makes me somewhat anxious." His smooth voice burst out of the speaker.

Quietly sipping on the drink Kurogiri gave him, Shigaraki listened closely. "You've heard of it before?"

"Both in books, and from my own comrades. From what I've over the decades, everything tends go on as normal after you see this person. A few of them started behaving with a degree of paranoia and aimed to please whoever acted through the dream. It's quite difficult to forget something so unusual. Yet considering the state of mind some have, it's not all that strange." It said, the voice cut out after he was done talking. Allowing both of them time to respond.

"So this wasn't the first time this has happened." Shigaraki spoke to himself.

Kurogiri put two fingers to his 'chin', placing them on the metal protecting his head. "I never took a liking to the more unstable of us, that must be why I never heard of this."

Tomura took another sip of his drink and looked down at the liquid. It had no alcohol, was wonderfully sweet. "So who is this? A villain? Vigilante? If she were a hero, I would be sure someone could track them down by the quirk."

"A quirk that allows one to travel between dreams. If there was a hero with it, I would've sought them out long ago. No, I don't know who it is. They have made no effort to tell us their name, and I've never considered this matter important enough to take information out of the heroes. Someone using their quirk as they please could be either a villain or a vigilante, two sides of a coin."

Shigaraki asked something. "Has a vigilante ever turned to villainy?"

"Of course. While vigilantes were recruited as heroes with the establishment of proper government. There were those left behind by the law because it could not help them or conform to their methods. That's why some of were branded villains." The master spoke.

"If she's been around as long as you make it sound, then she'd most likely already be considered a villain." Kurogiri added to the discussion.

The voice rang through the speakers after a short pause. "Mhm. Aside from your own curiosity, was there any reason you wanted to know about this person?"

Tomura drank up the rest of his glass and swallowed it. He reached over for his hand and gently attached it to his face. He briefly pondered the situation. He failed at killing All Might, giving him the urge to atone and improve. Bringing together the villains was difficult, but motivating them and getting them interested in the idea wasn't. If he went for more high profile allies, people who could be cool and who wouldn't piss him off, then maybe it would all go together. Maybe he could actually kill All Might.

"I'm considering adding her to my party."

Truth be told, the idea intimidated him, excited him and the mystery thrilled him.

How could he possibly get to speak with her?

* * *

Maribel's neighborhood was a suburban, almost town-like part of the city. It had been designed with foreigners in mind to attract workers. Avoiding an urban environment, it tried to be more appealing to those who lived in Europe, America and places like Australia. The houses were built to be familiar to those who would move in, the streets too. Forest was left behind as a potential playground for the young, as a meeting place for teens and so on. Owned by the government, the forests directly around the city area were free to the locals as long as they followed a right of common. Due to the success, similar projects were attempted with different demographics being targeted.

One of the big reasons why she grew up here was because of this kind of neighborhood existing. Workers were needed and the housing was cheap, reserved to those who immigrated. Her mother and her father had moved in together and lived here for a large part of her life. But eventually, opportunity presented itself to her mother and she moved to France. They still talk sometimes, although it's mostly her dad that starts those conversations. Some years, she even comes over to visit for a week.

The blonde's pondering had to stop as she walked through the forested shortcut to the public transport. Before her stood a familiar girl who held a myouga plant in her hand, although this time she wore much more modern clothing. It was a pink tracksuit with white highlights, no hat and running shoes. Under her right arm was a nicely packaged box in a wrapper, which knew what she was going to do with it. A familiar, divine presence radiated from her, but was much more subdued than in the dream and much less from the god herself. If she was completely honest, she'd like to run away right now, but the curiosity kept her there. Hearn felt a lingering feeling that it would be rude to simply leave. Golden eyes and purple eyes met, she felt human, but weirdly so.

For some reason she started performing an extremely slow dance out of the blue. _Noh?_

"What are you doing?" Maribel asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion. It was weird, but she felt like it was okay to waste this time. She was brought to ease despite meeting someone she had only seen in her dreams before.

The brunette raised the myouga high up and then lowered in a calm spin. Facing Hearn, she stopped and said. "I brought out your mental energy." Before resuming her previous pose. "I am Satono Nishida. Here in place of Matara-jin. I'm to teach you something about the door on your back."

Maribel blinked as she introduced herself, with the added mental fortitude given to her, she managed to restrain herself from shying away. Not like this wasn't indulging her curiosity anyway. A door? That must've been the strange feeling that saved her. "Please don't waste my time."

"Ah, yes. I'll make this short." Satono said, speaking more discreetly than she did before. She took some steps forward, her brightly colored running shoes dirtying themselves in the moss, leaves and dirt that covered the ground. Maribel blinked for a moment and the dancer disappeared from her sight, instead, she stood right next to her. The boundary girl didn't jump, but it was a bit surprising and felt threatening. "Sorry, sorry." The brunette said. Maribel turned to look at her as she waved the myouga at Maribel's back. "This door here... Leads to many possibilities. With it, you should have access to newfound potential."

"Can I even trust you?" Maribel asked and waved the myouga away, making Satono look a little disappointed.

"Hear me out. I'm one of the All-Too-Dangerous Backup Dancers, and I happen to know a thing or two about youjutsu." The dancer monologued somewhat innocently. "This thing, here..." Her lips let slip as suddenly one of her fingers touched the very end of her tailbone, the movement of her arm too fast for Maribel to see. It tickled, and the place was just a bit too awkward to touch. So Maribel turned around and tried to swat her arm away, which she didn't stop. Satono's expression looked very neutral. "...Is the foundation of an extension of you."

Maribel calmed herself down again and placed her fingers on her chin, pondering on her words.

Satono swung the myouga to the side as she explained, a somewhat encouraging and cheerful voice and expression guiding Maribel along her words. "With the door on your back, balancing yourself will be easier. The door frees up the flow of mental energy and vitality from you, allowing it to be easily tapped. If done correctly... your aura should strengthen!"

The blonde just looked curious and nodded. She wasn't certain if she wanted to try what Satono might suggest. Maribel just didn't know if it would do her bad or good. Anything at all even.

Satono brushed one of her bangs out of her face. Lowering the myouga, she kept a straight posture. "Master has told me that you focus your attention to increase the effectiveness of your quirk. If you do the same for the aura, you give off, then you should find some results. Just focus where I touched you, or search for the base of your aura yourself. I will say that youkai, gods and even some humans use this. Naturally you should be able to do the same."

Hearn shrugged calmly and gave Satono her answer, lowering her arms to her sides in the process. Almost reluctantly, she stated her opinion. "...I'm curious. I guess I'll try it..." Closing her eyes, the boundary girl's focus drifted away from her boundary vision and instead went inward. Her quirk's ability to sense the aura and presence of things, quirks and so on. For a moment, she could imagine what her aura looked and felt like. It was somewhat sinister, not quite like Doremy's, but it was like meeting a stranger for the first time. Before her was Satono, she felt a calm and packed presence. It was almost packed around her form. Assuming this was what she was supposed to aim for, Maribel focused on the base of her spine. What she imagined was an ordered aura, instead of a widespread one. The brief moment she could maintain focus with was soon over.

It came like a jolt, as if the base of her spine hit something. "Ow!" Maribel yelped as she opened her eyes in a quick blink. Her sight revealed a short lasting glow all around her form. A dark red in the first instance which was a short moment where she realized her quirk had become focused too. The next, it spiked into a violet before settling and disappearing. For the next few seconds, the visible part of her aura segmented itself and rolled off of her like waves. Disappearing as fast as it came. Some of the dirt below her was shoved out in every direction away from her. Making the place she stood looking like the place where someone dragged their feet across.

Satono Nishida clapped calmly. Her expression changed into a genuine smile. "Well done. I applaud. That's all master wanted me to teach you, but I'll show you what I can do before I leave." Satono said somewhat cheerily for a moment, with a twist of her fingers it looked like she procured a pink colored and glowing, ofuda charm. Before Maribel could properly react, she tossed it straight to the side, where it impacted and burnt a weirdly pink-glowing cut into the side of a tree. Maribel could only stare at what just happened. When she brought back the arm, the charm was back in her fingers. After five seconds, the earth shook as the cut expanded and violently slammed the tree into the ground.

 _Huh...!?_

"That was all. Saraba da." Satono said as she bowed lightly and suddenly began to run. For once, Maribel could actually see the movement, but she was still very swift. There is no point in pursuing her if I want to ask anything and I need to go to the public transport now! I'll be late! Hearn almost panicked as she turned around and began sprinting down the shortcut faster than she normally could, all thanks to her focused quirk. The day bearing down on her created a subtle irritation, but nothing much.

* * *

Aizawa's headroom was over. There was a 5-minute break between it and the next lesson, so the teacher took the opportunity to walk over to someone of interest. "Oi. Merry-san. Your costume will be repaired on Thursday, including your support equipment. I'd also like to ask if you'd want any of the teachers to help you during the lessons later today." He said. The bandages around his arms were gone, signifying he had gotten them fixed now. Had the damage from USJ been more severe, he'd be going with them for a while longer. "Yes. All Might is your hero lessons teacher, he's an excellent hero, but the sports festival isn't just about being a good hero. His niche of fighting, fighting upfront with overwhelming might, doesn't suit you."

"I think you're implying you do." Maribel asked, both of her arms laid on her desk as she waited for the class to begin. The other students were mostly talking among themselves and not sitting down, and while Aizawa had to talk with her, nobody felt like approaching her either. She didn't like it, but it was such a minor thing.

Aizawa smiled cheekily. "Exactly. That's the logical conclusion."

"I'll have you for the first lesson and... All Might for the second, after lunch."

"Then it's settled. I'll make it fit in my schedule."

* * *

 **As usual, if you have any criticism or interesting to say, just give me a review. Writers tend to like that since it feels like people start thinking about the things you are writing. If you so feel like it, feel free to drop a recommendation on a forum or fansite, too.**


	16. Chapter 15: Hiding The Secrets

**I'm thinking I'll make one more full chapter about preparing for the tournament, the next will be more so about the teachers and what she learns. I'll finish with the setup in the beginning of chapter 17, which I'll make a bit longer than most recent chapters.**

* * *

"As we've told you before, the hero lessons until the sports festivals will be focused mostly on honing your skills with your quirks. However, sometimes we will have a short presentation or exercise in the beginning of a lesson." The rather boring tone of Aizawa reflected itself on the class. They didn't look that excited.

"But this is not one of those days! This will be fifty minutes of an intense workout for you, students! Make use of it well and feel free to ask for my advice! The same goes for the session after lunch break." The exciting, energetic and heroic voice of All Might tacked on. Instantly, everyone looked motivated. Even Maribel looked somewhat excited, although it felt like the day was glaring at her. She stood out from the rest of her class as she wore the standard gym uniform of U.A. Aizawa had given it to her, explaining it was what they were going to wear during the sports festival. It was also a temporary replacement for her hero costume.

Aizawa spoke, motioning towards Maribel, who stood in the front of the crowd next to Iida. "Keep in mind that I'm not here to give you advice. My assignment is to help Merry-san get caught up after the villain's invasion." Making everyone turn their eyes to her, red, green, grey and turquoise, and many more. Against her, with the context and his assignment taken into account, this was exceedingly pressuring. She understood clearly the class would be competing against her, too. Making enemies was bad, that's why she had only revealed the details to those she thought she could trust not to feel competitive. For a moment, Aizawa and All Might's eyes met after they parted from the class. "That's all. Now are th-"

"ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS BEFORE WE BEGIN!?" All Might shouted with encouragement radiating from his very soul as he flexed his muscles, taking everyone's attention again. Being in his presence felt less subduing now, that's what Maribel felt. She was at ease, even under the sun.

"Yes!-" Izuku Midoriya asked, raising his hand. Everyone's eyes drifted to him, but he took the pressure. "What happened to Aizawa's arms? Was it Re-"

Recovery Girl? Maribel thought. She hadn't noticed his arms fixed themselves after she went to meet the principal.

"Recovery Girl, yes." The hero, Eraserhead answered plainly and before he could finish. Eyeing the class again. "Anymore questions?"

"No, sir!" Everyone among the students replied.

All Might was the one to finally start the class. "BEGIN!"

* * *

"To start with, eliminating the possibility of an enemy hindering your attack in any capacity is paramount. I've seen you fight, so I can make some observations. Your strongest attack bypasses any conventional defense, whilst your movement allows you to bypass any wall or any distance within two kilometers. That you managed to get yourself into U.A is not some surprise, people with warp gate-styled quirks trade their frequency for value." Aizawa explained, putting his hands in his pockets and looking down at Maribel with intrigue in his expression. His eyebrows raised and his expression neutral. "However, an attack that bypasses any defenses is too good. It can kill, that's what 13 told you back then. So firstly, finding a way of safely harming an opponent and subduing them are our priority."

Maribel did some standard stretches to work her limbs. She reached up and clasped her hands together, stretching her shoulder. Secondly, she did a hamstring stretch. While she normally wasn't interested in this kind of stuff, the occupation demanded she knew it. "I used the same technique I use for Double Boundary to capture Yaoyorozu-san during the battle trial All Might gave us."

Shota Aizawa eyes drifted away from her for a second. "Logically, that would be trapping someone between two points of your gate then. You could start practicing it on that stop sign over there." He said, pointing at a stop sign at the end of the street they were in. All around Ground Beta, each student practiced with their quirks to the best of their ability. It either was fine tuning their skills in a particular area, like mobility, control or simply learning how to fight better with their bodies in conjunction to their quirks. Maribel would be no different.

She stood up and turned her head to look at the stop sign. "Well, here we go." Maribel said and focused, her eyes shimmered purple, followed by the creation of two gaps inside the stop sign. They quickly expanded, becoming black lines along its metallic cylinder until it enveloped the cylinder. After that, they melded together and made the piece between them disappear in a blink. Aizawa watched on with almost scientific curiosity. Gaps contracting, the space inside did too. There was a metallic crinkling sound along with a high pitched howling as air forced itself out.

"Try moving them like they were a single object, a rod of sorts." Her teacher suggested.

The boundary girl was about to. Her vision gave her the impression that what she had made was simply made of three mobile pieces. Changing her perspective, thinking of it as a solid object, she could do something else. Her mind manipulated the two gaps and the border space inside them as one, slowly bending it 90 degrees from the middle of the space.

 **CRRRRRRRNK- Clank.** The stop sign's upper half was torn off as the stress on the lower portion exceeded its structural integrity. Her gap now contained a stop sign. "Uh- Aizawa, what do I do with the sign? Once I get rid of the space between the gaps, the sign will get thrown out."

"Well? Just don't point it at us."

Maribel pointed the sign away from them by shifting the position of the gap trap. Pointing the broken end down, Maribel expanded both gaps and let the sign fall through the border. Just as the wide end passed, the gap on the top was extinguished by Maribel herself. As fast as she could have, in fact. Almost instantaneously, the sign shot out from the gap and dug into the asphalt. Thirty centimeters into the pavement. When one end of a gap was removed, the border space that existed would inevitably be removed. Exactly why the things inside of it wasn't immediately destroyed was beyond her. Perhaps it just wasn't possible to trap something in a place without space. _I know!_ _I'll go tell Renko about it. I know she loves that kind of evidence. Matter can't be destroyed!_

"With something like that in your arsenal, just be careful you don't break too many bones. The government tends to frown on mortal wounds inflicted during hero work, unless they're particularly favoring you for one reason or another. That rule also goes for the tournament. You're not fighting villains." The teacher commented. "And by the way, using your gate-"

"Aizawa-sensei, I call them gaps. I manipulate boundaries. Those are gaps in borders." Hearn turned to him, crossing her arms and making sure not to look him in the eye with her quirk focused.

"...I suppose that's logical." Aizawa took his hands out of his pocket. "Anyway. What I meant to say was you can use your gaps to attack with projectiles. Making use of the environment as a weapon is perfectly possible for you, it doesn't have to be your body that initiates an attack. Before I move onto something else, try putting a gat-... Gap over the top of the stop sign and pointing the other one at a target. Move the first gap down as quickly as you can."

Nodding, Hearn tried the exact thing he told her to do. A gap over the severed head of the stop sign that was lodged into the street and another pointing horizontally out next to it.

 _1... Breath._

 _2... Breath._

 _3... Down._

The gap over the stop sign fell down as fast as she could react. Wind sounded as the stop sign flew out of the other end, sticking to the ground and not dropping. Although it started wiggling a little when gravity took hold. Maribel raised the first gap, returning the stop sign to its normal position. "Amazing!" Was all Maribel could say, it would be a lie to say that her capabilities didn't excite her.

"That's good. Keep working on that, but first..." Aizawa looked at her, turning her to look at him. Of course, their eyes did not meet. "I had planned to let you go look for someone to spar with, but first I want to give you advice on strategy and acting unpredictably."

"Mhm." Maribel nodded. She honestly wasn't keen on fighting someone, but if it was just a spar, it might be alright. Her quirk made her somewhat more receptive to violence, so that'd be a good counterweight to her current state of mind once she actually gets started.

Aizawa raised his head a little and explained, removing a hand from one of his pockets and holding a palm out to her. "If you encounter someone who can comfortably adapt to your strategies, it's paramount to keep them guessing. If we assume that your opponent is a villain with no prior information about you. Being conservative about revealing your capabilities is a good move. However, if your opponent is experienced in a martial art that may be used in a street fight or the like, you'll have to rely on 'known unknowns'. Whatever strong moves you rely on, don't. Be diverse and keep them guessing. Knowing the enemy and knowing yourself always presents you the possibility of victory."

The girl nodded again. "Logical." _That's Sun Tzu!_

"Your quirk is able to fit this role quite well, but do think of this if you can't rely on your quirk. Using your boundaries to cut something shouldn't be the first resort. And lastly, some opponents may have a counter for every conventional thing you would do. That's when you will need to create breathing room and keep them at bay, not immediately defeat them. If you're too aggressive, and you will only defeat yourself."

She smiled and bowed thankfully once, before straightening out. "I got that, Aizawa-sensei. Should I go to anyone in particular for a spar?"

"Hmm..." He said, his tired eyes drifting away from her. "It depends on if they agree. What level of difficulty do you want?"

* * *

Crystallized water materialized into the air, flowing along as if it were still liquid. Hard enough to stand on, Todoroki surfed it and practiced his mobility. Making a big leap to the side and rolling onto the asphalt using the momentum it gave him. Mobility like this was important.

Half-Cold Half-Hot was a monstrously powerful quirk, both his mother and his father had aspects of it, but both of them were weaker. Even with only one part of it being used, it could defeat most of the class in versatility, agility, mobility and power. The user wasn't recommended only because of the quirk. He was recommended because of his sense, application, planning and so on. He was more than qualified for U.A High.

Yet, there were people in his own class that may prove troublesome. Some of them stood out as challenges in his way and he had to get through them to show his father that he's quite capable without his other side. It would be the ultimate revenge after all the things he put him through.

U.A High is in no doubt an exceptional place, bound to be filled with exceptional students. But some people go above that. It felt like the teachers would cater to them in one way or another, either by praise or being especially friendly.

Izuku Midoriya, whose quirk was powerful enough to easily shatter buildings but only hurt himself. All Might seems to have taken a favor to him, that's what he's seen since he joined the class and it's exactly what other classmates have told him as well. By no means perfect, but he was clever and seemed to come up with something in a tight spot.

Katsuki Bakugo, a trouble maker who doesn't get along with almost anybody, but knows his stuff. Adept at both fighting and the theoretical. _Coincidentally, I've heard he was Midoriya's childhood friend._

Maribel Hearn, an odd one out among the rest of the class. The first thing you'd notice from her was that she was foreign. Sometimes upbeat, sometimes depressed, not loud. But you have a hint of her true capabilities until she's forced into a corner. The battle trial had her adapting both strategy and skill quickly to deal with Yaoyorozu. And even though I never saw it, she put up a strong resistance against the villains at USJ, especially after the Eraserhead was too injured to help.

 _I remember a loud boom back at USJ, almost like a supersonic projectile. But I wouldn't be sure if that was her, I only saw some of the fight between All Might and Noumu, as they named him. In fact, that's probably one of them. I'm jumping to conclusions._

That said, Todoroki thought back to her. The injury she received in her fighting was supposed to be crippling according to the police and the medics, but she came back within days. Even before she came back, that she survived had been a topic between the teachers whenever he saw them talk casually. And since she came back, she even got a personal trainer for the hero lessons.

Todoroki stretched a bit and straightened his body out, looking down the road. Every other second, you could hear a boom in the distance. Like a beating heart. _Most likely Bakugo._ He thought, turning his eyes around the crossroads where he stood. He didn't spot anyone for the first few seconds, but his sudden burst of curiosity paid off as someone walked out of an alleyway there. Flowing blonde hair reaching down a good part of her neck. Unlike the rest of them, she wore the gym uniform instead of the hero costume. Shouto had the urge of walking over to her and just talking about her. It wasn't her appearance that drew him, but the mystery of her. The only one else that had made him wonder like this was Izuku Midoriya.

Luckily, it seems he wouldn't have to go to her. The girl spun on her heals and began walking over to him slowly. Her face was neutral, but the eyes weren't golden like usual. Since she wasn't with Eraserhead, he must've dismissed her for now. Looking back to the battle trial, which he saw through recording, her eyes became that color when she began to fight. Todoroki sighed, there wasn't any point in standing around and started to walk to meet her.

When they were a few meters from each other, she closed her eyes for a good five seconds and the color of her iris became subdued when she opened them. First it sat a strange mixture of golden and purple, and then settled back into her normal eye color. A sigh escaped her. "...Huh?"

"How did you recover?" Todoroki asked plainly, their comparable height allowing for a proper eye-to-eye. Maribel looked like she was going to side-step him and ignore him, but stopped just as her leg lifted.

She shrugged and raised her eyebrows. It was hard to determine if she was honest, but there wasn't much to say the opposite. "I don't know. I woke up in livable condition."

Shouto didn't know what he expected and spoke casually. "...How could you keep going when Eraserhead couldn't?"

Maribel's expression changed, almost looking cautious. "He took me out of harm for a minute, from where the villains then started escalating the fight. Why are you asking?"

The boy glanced at her somewhat threateningly. It felt like she was deflecting. His voice carried a hint of menace. "Matching up against something a teacher can't. It isn't what what the teachers think is normal. While there are more of us who could do the same, even All Might had trouble with the villains."

"I almost died. But I will tell you I was just going with the flow of everything. My quirk is pretty good when coupled with a talent for improvisation. And I didn't fight... Uh, Noumu, was it? I only got him out of the fight for a bit. But enough of this, I know why you're asking." Maribel plainly stated and eased her expression. As she spoke, her expression morphed into a playful smile as her eyes narrowed. "You want to understand me so that I become predictable."

Todoroki looked vaguely agitated by this and furrowed his eyebrows. His words were now interrogating, he really wanted to know. "I already know what your warp gate quirk does. No, I'm only asking you because I'm curious."

Hearn looked ready to burst out in passive aggressive laughing as she started giggling girlishly. This took a lot of the heat out of him, and he calmed down in posture and expression. "You're so serious! Hah. If you thought about this thoroughly, you'd understand exactly why I didn't start this conversation. Firstly, I know you can cool and heat things, that's what the people I know best told me. Secondly, telling you anything would give you better chances in the festival. I might not have been around to watch your fight during the battle trial, but friends were."

He was now far from as serious as he was. He knew she wouldn't purposefully tell him anything about her fight with the villains. It was very suspicious, even among students. "I watched your fight too. So we are in the same position."

The boundary girl swayed her head left to right, not dismissing his idea or accepting it. "I may not know or be friends with everyone in 1-A, but I do know you get some bonuses by being close to someone. You seem quite ignorant about that... So, I suppose you should go ask someone else." She finished talking and rotated to the side, walking on over down another road.

 _I know I wasn't so subtle, but she was quick in recognizing it... And she was quick to blow me off._

 _Still, she's not wrong... I'll go ask someone else about what she can do. Anyone who was back at the staircase._

* * *

"So you wanna spar, Maribel-san!?" Iida pridefully, yet playfully let out. His armor's joints bent as he prepared a stance. His opponent was as he said, the blonde in the blue gym uniform. They had isolated themselves from the rest of the class specifically because she wanted some secrecy. After a short conversation, she had convinced him they'd keep secrecy about their skills, as to make them less predictable in the tournament.

"Yes!" Maribel responded in a lively manner.

"Have at you!"

The boundaries laid across her eyes became clearer and her perception heightened. Maribel couldn't help but smile at Iida just before they met up close. His palm collided with her arm and grabbed a hold of her, after of which he jumped and sent himself into a revolution with his quirk. Just halfway of the first, they lit again. Sending them both down, with Maribel down below. But even with such a quick opponent, her reactions weren't so slow. As they collided with the ground, Maribel thought quick. A gap was made just upon the boundary between her and the ground, letting her slip through as space changed. Iida didn't let go, but he couldn't pass through.

The gap was too small for him and his armor. Worse yet, Maribel was hanging from Iida's grapple and putting all of the weight on him. He looked down through the gap for a moment. It was just the asphalt. He might have to reorient himself after this, but the consequences wouldn't be damning.

He let go.

Maribel fell through and her figure became smaller in his eyes, reorienting herself for landing as she did. A five meter drop. Just as she passed the second meter, he saw what was really down there. Himself.

 _Shit!_

A well placed kick could be very painful.

* * *

 **Merry Christmas. I named this chapter not just as a dumb play on the one before it, but also because it's a theme in DOOM.**


	17. Chapter 16: All the Might You'd Need

**This chapter is going to be followed by another one in a day. Since I'm almost done with that one. The sports festival will begin on that chapter and it will also set up some important plot happenings that will be returned to in the future and during the sports festival itself.**

 **As for this chapter, I hope you enjoy since it's twice as long as all of my most recent chapters. Leave a review if you have any criticism or ideas to leave.**

* * *

"First! I'm going to test your strength so I can figure out what works best for you. Second, I'll teach you some great moves for getting out of a pinch! And finally, I'll give you advice on how to be a proper hero for the masses!" The ever so enthusiastic All Might yelled out. He and Maribel stood on the roof of a building within ground Beta. It was a very good proposition, but Maribel felt that the hero part of it was extra. Improving the ability of her quirk and her technique was more on her mind than standing out as righteous. And frankly, she couldn't find the mood to be.

"Yes, sir! Let's go." Maribel replied and stood at attention before her teacher. Her quirk was already active, giving her the ghostly eyes she usually had. All Might was far from as intimidating as he used to be, both to a growing confidence in herself and getting used to his presence. There was something that ticked her off, though. It had a familiarity.

All Might put his hands to his waist and started elaborating. "As I said, we'll begin by testing your physical strength. I heard you've been getting stronger recently, and the results at the battle trial seem to agree. For a starter, I want you to try and hit me."

"With my hands?"

He kept his friendly visage and tone as he answered affirmatively. "Yes!"

Maribel was completely confident she couldn't actually make him budge. While she hadn't kept track of heroes on TV or anything, she knew All Might was the rare kind of person who leveled entire complexes in fights. All she could do was sigh and try her best. She walked a lot closer and then winded up her right arm into a hook and punched! Unsurprisingly it didn't budge him from his spot, although he wobbled just a little.

"Oof... Certainly not bad. But it was never really sending me stumbling." He shrugged it off. His dignified tone made him sound satisfied."Next, we'll try kicking."

Maribel jerked her arm back and felt up her hand a bit. It was very sore, almost like she punched a rigid wall. Although it didn't hurt like it would if that was the case. In a moments notice, she shifted her posture to one that would allow her to easily kick. In a style similar to Aizawa, she made an absurdly quick and very powerful stomp that emphasized her heel. A split second's blink allowed her to elevate her foot just to his stomach and make it collide smoothly. The number one hero braced his feet against the ground, creating a powerful friction that stopped him from moving at all. Still, no damage. She withdrew her foot out of the gap and put it back on the ground, wiggling on the spot as she did. Subsequently she took a step back.

All Might gave her a thumbs up. "Very good, young Hearn! Safe to say you're one of the stronger people in 1-A, despite your quirk not being centered around physical enhancement." He praised her and then lowered his hand. "Now, we'll try lifting."

For a moment, All Might disappeared from her enhanced sight. A colored streak replacing him in Maribel's eyes before disappearing for a moment. _I can see this well?_ The next second, a cloud of dust kicked up just as All Might returned to the scene. A metallic crank struck her ears and All Might dropped what looked like a mangled rooftop coolant unit onto the ground. "This is part of an AHU, weighs around 100 kilograms."

Gently pulling her blonde hair back a bit, Maribel thought about herself for a moment. _I really need to get a haircut._ Just a week ago, it went a little beyond her ears, but now it was just about to reach down to the base of her shoulders. "Oh?" She focused her ghostly eyes on All Might again, and then on the AHU. It was almost as big as her.

Instinctively, she thought it was ridiculous for her to try and lift something like that, but at the same time she had never attempted it. Walking on over to it, she grappled it by the sides and tried to heave it up. Putting in all of her strength, she began lifting it a couple of centimeters off of the ground. Then she put a foot under it for extra support, heaving it up to 50 centimeters in a short time. Next, she put her kneecap just under it to replace her foot's position and put it ever so slowly above her head. This was strenuous, and she was visibly sweating as she attempted it. Then moving it atop her head. Maribel tried holding it like that for 10 seconds as her entire body went to support it. Changing her grip just a little before dropping it in the ensuing balance change. Instead of letting it fall, she swung it down as hard as she could and away from her toes. The thing bent under the force, the part that hit the ground became buckled. Now exhausted, Maribel sat down and panted while on the ground. A wind blew past her head for a second, pushing her hair into her face. "Faaah... Pfhah... ...Is it normal for you to test other students like this? It's a little difficult, but I can do this..."

The hero raised his finger and answered his student informatively. "I'm no stranger to deducing the strengths and weaknesses of villains with mere observation. It's quite a great skill to understand exactly what attacks would be most efficient in subduing a villain. Any physical action is a boon for both teaching and battle. While girls aren't normally as muscular as boys, quirks can compensate, just watching someone's stature isn't enough."

"Hah... Uh-huh." Maribel replied and stood up, pulling her beautiful blonde hair behind her ears. "Uh... I managed to see you moving before, when you went picking up that cooling unit."

All Might raised both of his eyebrows in an expression of surprise. All he could do after that was open his mouth in a second of thought before returning to his usual smile. "Quite impressive! Discounting Noumu-" Maribel thought back and looked away from All Might for a moment, discontent with herself. "I haven't encountered someone like that in a long while. It's a great thing people like you choose to become heroes. People whose quirk can rapidly change and become stronger are quite rare.

Maribel nodded and smiled somewhat honestly. He must've read the quirk registry. "Right! So, you wanted to teach me some moves?"

"Mhm! Let's get to it." The hero smiled again. "Typical smashes won't work for you, even though you came up with a super move that achieves a similar effect. So instead, I'll try and show you something more technical. Grapples, hard hitting strikes and kicks." He explained, turned to the right and entered a fighting pose. "First, your main leg and hand to the back. Second is to start the punch with your leg, twist and move your body along with the punch! I'll show you, **SMASH**!" He yelled out, his body twisting slightly and sending a single clean punch into the air, something which she managed to see perfectly as it created a powerful gust of wind in front of it. Making some of the other cooling units and tubes on the roof wobble and fly off their fastenings. A sonic boom rang out, but Maribel felt his punch wasn't approaching those speeds. His quirk must be emitting energy with his movements.

"...Oh, oh. Time to try it." She responded, blinking in response to the destructive showcase. Her posture changed to a very similar one to All Might, who walked up next to her to take a look at how she stood.

"Just a little farther back with the leg." He raised a hand and told her humbly. Nodding, she moved it into place. With a quick twist of her leg, she swung her hips along with it and her upper body a little forward. Then releasing her curled arm into a single punch that created an audible **whoosh** in the air. All of this technical talk reminded Maribel of her run-in earlier today with Nishida. More specifically on the strange thing she had her try. _Once he's done showing me this stuff, I think I want to try it out again. It felt weird._

"Nice!" He told her in English, despite his Japanese accent, it was pronounced perfectly well. "Just keep practicing on that! Let's do it again." He said and adopted the same posture next to her. They repeated several times without any smashing. Maribel kept up with him for a while, but she did not have infinite stamina, despite her quirk. So eventually, she had to stop.

"And smash!" All Might yelled out one last time, before retracting his fist. "Getting tired?"

Maribel rubbed the back of her head and closed her eyes in slight embarrassment. Not being able to keep up with someone as strong as him was a given, but she couldn't help but feel inadequate put next to him. "E-excuse me, sensei! I need more stamina exercise."

"Ahahahahaha!" He let out a mighty, welcoming laugh and looked up to the sky. Then lowering his head to her again. "It's no problem. You've two weeks, just practice this in your free time. Now, I wanted to teach you a bit about grappling and some counters for that. Then, we'll start kicking. We'll start with the leg placement..."

 _Surprisingly, this was enjoyable._

* * *

All Might had taken most of the lesson to teach Maribel some of the technical aspects of how to fight. Punching, grappling and now kicking. All without much interruption. Occasionally another student passed them by and asked a question, but that's where it ended.

"Alright, pivot on the support leg and extend the other the last second. Again!" The number one hero instructed. Following instructions, Maribel put her kicking leg four dozen degrees to the side and then spun on her left leg that supported her. The kicking leg was flexed so that the kneecap would impact first. Although just as the kick was about to lose its momentum, she brought it out in full length. If there was something for her to hit, it would've been impacted by her shin. Nonetheless, it created another **whoosh** , indicating she was attacking quite fast. Maribel was significantly more skillful with her kicks than she was with her fists, maybe it was because she previously relied on them a lot. Once more, both of her legs touched the ground.

She brought her hair behind her ears again and turned her head to her teacher. "Sensei! Was that good?"

"Mhm! Perfect!" He gave her a thumbs up before putting both his hands on his hips. "Those were the basics of what I wanted to teach you. Since I'm here during every hero lesson, I'll help you weave those moves into your muscles if you so wish!"

Maribel bowed respectfully and then stood straight. "Before you go over the last thing, can I try something?"

"Hmm?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"It's something I experimented with this morning." Maribel responded, putting her hands on her hips in a slightly cheeky imitation of him.

"Yes! Give it a try." He encouraged.

Maribel closed her eyes just like before and felt the aura in her surrounding. Her quirk's multiple capabilities filtered out of her mind as this part was empathized. The boundaries became afterthoughts as she focused on her own. In the presence of something as radiating as All Might, it was frankly hard to feel, but it was there. Largely contained inside her and otherwise widespread, like a fire in an engine. Nishida from earlier today had a unique aura in comparison, encasing her form like a dense shell. That must be a secret to how she made herself so fast. A quick look at All Might told her that he wasn't capable of something similar,. The 'exhaust' far surpassed hers, but the rest was just as pent up inside.

"...Just a moment." The boundary girl sighed as she focused on the base of her spine, her aura collected around her until it vaguely resembled the dancer. Maribel's muscles tightened as she did, straining her. Her eyes opened to reveal there was a bright purple glow all around her. Consciously preventing herself from tightening it too much, Maribel kept herself on the brink of familiar pain as she raised her leg and stomped hard into the ground. There was the accompanying sound of the wind and then a powerful thud as she subsequently made a large crack and indentation in the rooftop. "Woah." She thought out loud, pushing away with her leg and briefly gliding across the ground as if she was flying, before landing. All Might stared in a mix of bewilderment and excitement at her as the glow around her broke off and disappeared over the course of a second.

"A-aaah... Ow..." Maribel gasped as she sat down and clutched her foot. To tell the truth, she ached all over, but her foot especially. Eyes turned gold as she stopped focusing her quirk in its entirety.

"Young Hearn, are you alright?" All Might asked, walking on over and kneeling next to her. His look becoming one of slight concern, yet confident as he usually was.

Her head turned to him as she stopped and picked herself up. It felt like she stubbed her toes for a moment. Maribel put her eyes back on him. "...Yes, I'm alright."

He cleared his throat and stood tall again. "You're full of surprises! I hope you don't mind me helping you during the next lesson too."

"Oh, I don't. But I'm not sure if I should keep sticking to the same teachers every lesson. I need to pick up many skills." Hearn crossed her arms and looked up at him innocently.

All Might raised his hand up, perhaps as a gesture of criticism. "Just remember it's good to have a clear vision. If you keep shifting the road, you won't memorize all that you learn. What's important about fighting is ingraining everything into your muscle memory."

Maribel nodded. "Well, that's true. I'll have a shorter session with you during the next lesson."

The number one hero smirked at this. He wouldn't let a student with this amount of potential go to waste. Even discounting the reason he had become a teacher, there were plenty of things that were worth his attention. "Anyway, it's about time I tell you how to act appealing to the public as a hero!"

Not wanting to come across as dejecting to his work, Maribel stood out with this and kept a rather subtle smile. On the inside, she didn't really care all that much.

Extending his arm, he held out his index finger. "One. It's critical to be amicable and friendly towards those who obey the law, it builds a confidence in you and earns you respect from civilians." Holding out his middle finger, he continued. "Second. In a setting like the school festival, keeping an air of honor is always optimal. Sportsmanship among those two deserve it is valued, don't forsake it." With one last extension of his ring finger, he told her the rest. "And third. Keep an air of invincibility, remain confident in your abilities in times of crisis. A hero who fights hard, but barely gets out of it may look inadequate." Finishing, he clapped his hands together. "That's that. You're free to enjoy the rest of this lesson."

With a last sign of respect, Maribel put her hands together on her lap and bowed 45 degrees. Standing straight after that. "Thank you for your time, sensei." And turned around, walking on over to the edge of the building and disappearing in a briefly visible and moving gap.

 _She learns quickly, and that quirk is something else._

* * *

Maribel closed the door to her house. The entry hall was very comfortable, a nice wooden floor, white walls and white ceiling. Touched up by an old-fashioned rectangular rug, a doormat, a place to put your shoes and a couple of hooks to put your clothes on. Finalized with a shelf to the right and a painting to the right.

First, she was going to go and take a shower and change out of her school uniform. But before that, there was something that absolutely demanded her attention. In her hand was an unfamiliar object, it looked like a birthday present with the wrapper and all that. It's not made of cardboard, wood... I don't know, doesn't feel like it. Maribel knocked her hand against the present. She had picked it up just outside her house before and was trying to understand who left it there. _Let's go through the day..._

 _I woke up, put on my clothes, ate some breakfast, went out and ran into the dancer..._ _Nishida. She held this. It was meant for me?_

Her thoughts became babble to herself, less so than an internal voice. This was the doing of Okina Matara, but it was quite bizarre still. Hearn would've expected something formal and traditional be used by a god. If that's actually a god that is, and she wasn't just being led astray. _That's a stupid thought at this point..._

"Hmm." Maribel mumbled, putting the object down and removing her shoes. Then she carried it over to the living room, which was pretty big on its own. Featuring a modern video player that was connected to the internet, from what Maribel understood. Her dad had told her something about protocols and IPTV. A large and clear holographic screen, which he bought specifically because it didn't get dirty. A couch plus table, a stylish light hanging from the cieling- a pendant as you would call it. There were a couple of plants lining windows that showed their relatively small backyard. Some paintings hung on the wall opposite of that. It was a wide room, and every time you entered you really got to feel it.

Carefully, she put the object down on the table and walked on over to an outlet by the wall just next to the couch. Plugged into it was a charging station and currently docked was a robot. People often used robotic servants, although they were usually limited in function. This one, in particular, was a variant of Asimo from 2143. She used to be scared of it when she was a few years younger, but she got over it. "Hey, Asimo." Maribel waited for a second as the eyes lit up on its 'face'. Pointing towards the object, she asked. "Can you open this delicately?"

It nodded and 'blinked', detaching from the wireless docking station and walking on over to the table like a tiny dwarf. Thinking back again, it was stupid how she was scared of it just a few years ago. _I mean, sure, I had those nightmares but this is just a loyal robot. It heeds our voice commands, it isn't accessible by hackers. What was there to be afraid of?_ She thought, placing her thumb and index finger around her chin. Asimo reached out and grasped the box-like object gently. Maribel had never understood how it had such finesse with its hands. The robot had no issue in grappling the small folds in the wrapper and opening it like a letter. There was no tape or actual attachment material, so there was no ripping of the paper to be heard. If it wasn't for the suspicious characters behind it, Maribel would have no issue opening it herself. It wasn't like she was a spoiled girl who needed people to coddle her or anything.

When the wrapper was finally off, Maribel strode forward and the robot turned to hold it out to her. It was an object made of some kind of dark gray stone or mineral. Perfectly square and with matching square indentations on all sides. Inside them were black ink-like markings that were connected with a plain black and angular line. Each marking was circular, surrounded by several dots, weird geometric line-art beyond that. She scooped it up in her hands and felt it, while the robot started going back to its charging station.

There was something else about the box, aside from its unique appearance. With her quirk, she felt the familiar presence of a god all around it. This was a given, but it felt so contained, being a speck of what she felt before waking up in the hospital a few days ago. "Suspicious." Maribel told herself and put it back on the table, removing her phone from her pocket and bringing it up to her face. Flipping the camera, she took a quick photo of it and attached it to another message she started to type.

 **[One of those dream-people left this at my house, I feel the presence of that god around it. Don't know what it is though. Wanna come over and investigate later?] - Maribel Hearn, 19/4/2146 at 16:50**

And after a bit of waiting.

 **[I'm not sure if I can fit that in my schedule right now! I've got a lot of studying to do, but I'll try and see if I can fit that in tomorrow. Okay?] Renko Usami, 19/4/2146 at 16:51**

It was a given that Renko would be busier than her. If she remembered correctly, her school would be one of those that kept the students there longer than U.A, and with her course it was natural for there to be a lot of work to do. Irritating, sure, but it was nothing to get angry about. Maribel took a picture of herself smiling and typed a response.

 **[That works. Also, do you think I should get a haircut?] - Maribel Hearn, 19/4/2146 at 16:52**

 **[Looks fine, Merry. Just brush it a bit during the morning.] Renko Usami, 19/4/2146 at 16:52**

Satisfied, Maribel put away the phone. She was going to go take a shower. Once she was done, she thought about getting a picture for Iida after she put on some clothes. A somewhat emotional thought as she understood it. _Maybe he'd like it..._ Her inner voice spoke, blushing slightly as she made her way to the bathroom.

* * *

"So that servant just left it lying on your doorstep?"

"That's what I think. Those dancers are very strange. The first time I met them, they were wearing very traditional clothing. But yesterday, I just met one of them right at the shortcut wearing something a jogger would. Then I think she dropped this here." Maribel pointed at the inscribed cube that currently sat in the living room as they sat together on the couch. "And I don't know what to do with it."

Renko shifted her eyes from Maribel down to the cube. "Did she tell you anything when you met her?"

"Oh, right. She stopped to explain some kind of trick, but all it did was make me feel a bit of pain at first. Tried it on the hero lesson in another way and I became a lot stronger. If anything has to do with that box, it's that." Maribel explained, weaving her forearms around a little to grab Renko's attention. A trick like that always worked to get people to remember what you said. Raising one finger into the air, Maribel was reminded of something. "Oh! I forgot to tell you something I discovered."

"Well, before we continued the former discussion. Tell me about it!" Renko eagerly and somewhat playfully let out toward her friend.

Putting her hands together for a bit, Maribel explained calmly. "My gaps can connect to expand space, and within this new space a vacuum is formed. I tested it, and it's not physically possible for me to trap something outside of space with it. So I think I confirmed that matter needs space."

"Oh... Ooooh. That's actual evidence! Your quirk is good for this kind of stuff." Usami commented and pulled a digital notepad out of her backpack and immediately began tapping it. "My work in school right now isn't just studying for tests, we also started some projects. Personally, I was aiming to impress some of my teachers, and this is just what I need for that. Calculations are nice and all, but legitimate evidence is great."

"Projects this early into the year? Is it some year long stuff? We have a lot of studying to do, but it's probably more leisurely than the stuff you get to do. More practicals too." Maribel asked curiously, elaborating a little before taking a hold of a cup of tea that sat by the table. Carefully making sure she didn't spill anything, she felt the porcelain and its warmth before deciding it was cold enough to drink. Thus lifting it to her immaculate lips and taking a sip. Tasted like vanilla.

"You're on point. We're supposed to demonstrate what we learnt through the year after review from the school." Renko said, much more leisurely picking up her cup, filled with coffee and sipping it. Then she brought it down to chest height and looked Maribel in the eye, smiling confidently. "I've made up my mind about what I'm going to do, though! For a challenge, I've thought about focusing on unified physics. Started reading about it just before I left junior high."

Maribel's eyes widened at the words being mentioned. "I don't know as much as you do, but the theories aren't completely unified yet, right? Are you going for a presentation, perhaps a paper or something?"

"Exactly. But they've come a long way since the two-thousands. Not quite aiming for just a paper, I've been thinking of my own solutions." The brunette responded, putting her cup down. "I don't think I could explain it that easily, even if I dumb it down. But I'll certainly think about it when we'll display them at the start of May. We also get the opportunity to display it to the public, which tends to draw a crowd. I think that's a great opportunity for me."

Maribel looked at her vanilla tea for a moment and brought it up to her mouth again. Haphazardly slurping down half of it before wiping her lips with her fingers. "Hey! That's after the sports festival. I'll definitely go if it's after my school time. Assuming they don't toss us a lot of work."

"Ah, the sports festival. How's that going, by the way? You recovered really quickly, so I can't think that you aren't participating." Maribel's best friend interrogated. If it wasn't for Renko being her friend, Maribel would have absolutely lied to her about this. Principal Nezu wouldn't like her spreading information about her participation in the sports festival, or about the incident at USJ. The days since she recovered, Maribel had occasionally had run-ins with reporters that searched for her and told them little tidbits about the incident. This was exactly like Nezu wanted, and when she woke up it was some of the first things she read on any media site. Even her dad seemed to read those articles in the morning.

On the thought of her dad, he's been really worried about her since that incident. Despite her sudden recovery softening his sentiment a little.

"I am participating. Just don't tell anyone else, the school doesn't want any mass media involved... Really, the truth is the Principal is focusing a lot of the teacher's efforts into helping me become fit for it. Why? He wants me to get to the top so that it looks less like I was helpless. In his words, no one but All Might could've beaten Noumu."

"Uhuh. I won't tell anyone, promise." Renko nodded."That's a lot of effort for one incident, though. Since you recovered, I haven't thought all that much about it, even if I hate those who did it. Does the media really care that much about hurting the school's reputation?" Her questions continued.

Hearn raised one finger in conjunction with her sentence to catch the full attention of her friend again."Personally I don't really care for media, but the Principal told me that they are not malicious but instead greedy. It's a big story. A good person looking bad will catch many eyes."

"Alright. I think I get it all now. You were really caught in a bad position there..."

"-He also told me that my intervention saved my teacher's life. I'm not sure if they've told the media about it yet, either but I sent their leaders home bleeding. That... Noumu was effectively braindead without them." The blonde almost interrupted and cupped her hands together. A cold feeling rushed over her shoulders when she thought back to the incident for a few moments. The impact and the power behind that god damned thing had stuck with her. If she ever saw something similar, she might just try and totally annihilate it. Maribel didn't care.

Usami's hand patted Maribel's back. "There, there. It's been over with. So tell me, how have you been practicing? Oh, and tell me about that trick you mentioned earlier!"

 _Oh yeah... I almost forgot._ "I'm not sure I can show it inside without damaging something, but I can explain it." Maribel put down her cup of tea on the table and thought about it for a moment. "You know how my quirk lets me feel the presence of people and things, right? I hate lycoris, for example. It creeps me out. Then when I got a bit older, I started feeling the differing presence of people once I was around them for a bit... I can focus my sensing of auras to see my own and control it. It's hard to explain, since it's a bit like using another limb. Someone with multiple arms could probably sympathize."

"Mhm. So you control your aura like you do with your eyes?"

"Are you guessing? Well, you're right. By doing that I am able to glide on the ground like I'm on ice. Also during the hero lesson, I managed to make a big crack in some concrete with it. It gives me a jolt of pain when I use it, though." Maribel explained. She glanced behind herself out to the night sky. It was a little late, and with it still being April. She almost felt like going out and taking a view of the moon, given how clear it was.

"Do you think you're doing it wrong or something, Merry?"

Hearn put two fingers on her chin and deviated her sight to the ceiling. "That dancer said something about balancing myself. Maybe I will have to get accustomed to it. When I felt Nishida's aura, it was more like a shell around her and I tried imitating that. All it did was hit me like I landed on my butt, though. Being a little bit more loose with my concentration only made me hurt all over, but especially in the part of the body I used during its duration."

Renko ran some fingers through her hair. She wore a plain white blouse and a black skirt, which was her preferred wear. Even though she sometimes went with all black or even brown. "The last times we experimented with your quirk, you got stronger during the evening, right? Is it any different now?"

There was a look of befuddlement on Hearn's face as Renko's words came to her. She had completely forgotten about that. And Maribel honestly didn't feel that much different from earlier today. But she could tell one thing, her clear state of mind. She used to feel a lot more confused earlier this week. It was like she was more so in touch with her surroundings and the things that could be heard or , she only started feeling close to it when she was having fun in class or with Renko. But aside from some temporary detachment from her surroundings, Maribel was oddly clear. Is this the result of the door? "I don't know. I feel oddly clear in my head and didn't have any strange episodes today. When I came back to school, I was totally unfocused on my environment for a bit. But after that, I stopped."

"Maybe you've been in that state for a while now. Could you tell any difference between the morning and the evening, though?" Renko asked before taking the cup up again and drinking as leisurely as she wanted.

"...I don't know, Renko." Maribel kept her eyes wide open, she had to think about this for a while. Am I powered up constantly?

"I get it, I get it. But you get especially energetic during the full moon, right? Why don't we try experimenting then? I've got a bit less to do in my free time that day. Since the stuff we have been doing in school right now is not routine."

"Yes! Excellent idea. I'm not sure if it's tied to my quirk, but that might be a good idea." Maribel blurted out and stood up, her now neck-length blonde hair waving a little in the sudden movement. "I was thinking we could eat up the last of those cookies by the way. Let me get them..." She said and reached out through a gap that she formed abruptly, Hearn wasn't used to creating one so smoothly, but it let exactly where she wanted. With a slick motion of her fingers, she scooped up a plastic bag with their remaining cookies and pulled them out.

Her friend's face lit up in interest not at the sight of the cookies, but at the careful details behind her actions. "Hey, you don't even need getting your eyes glowing now?"

Maribel snickered a little as if to excuse herself, putting the cookies down on the table. "It's a bit tricky, and I don't always get it right." She clarified and opened the bag, pouring them out on a plate. "Well, are we going to race to the last cookie now?"

"It's on." Usami cheekly reached out and grasped a hold of a cookie.

"Hmph!" Maribel grunted as she tried grasping through a gap, her eyes fiercely locked at the position in and around the plate.

Without doing a proper check on what Maribel caught, her arm swung what she grasped right into her mouth and bit a little. The dull smell of soft plastic had entered Maribel's mouth for a moment before she pulled it out.

Renko took one look at her and swallowed her cookie haphazardly, getting some stuck in her throat for a moment and coughing. In the span of a few seconds though, it faded into laughter. "Merry!"

"Come on!" The blonde's fingers tossed the plastic away.

And so they enjoyed the evening.


	18. Chapter 17: The Sports Festival

**And like I've said, this chapter was almost complete beforehand. I will also put out another databook entry so I someone could easily catch up on Maribel's character at this point in the story if everything wasn't so clear.**

* * *

Alone in his house, a boy with quite dark and green hair stood by. Gazing at his microwave, thinking.

 _The egg explodes as steam builds up inside rapidly, pressuring one point until the egg has to release it. Tearing it to pieces..._

 _Rapidly..._

 _If I do it gradually, then I can find it..._

 _The sweet spot that I can control._

Midoriya Izuku's body quivered as his quirk activated, tensing every muscle in his body.

"Izuku! You have to eat breakfast now, or you'll be late for school!"

His focus was interrupted, and he was thus forced to cringe in pain. But it wasn't as bad as it usually was.

"C-coming!"

* * *

"I'm going without the costume for now. I'm supposed to be practicing for the sports festival. Aren't I?"

"Ah, perfectly understandable then! Having some preemptive experience always gives someone an advantage!" All Might supported Hearn's decision making. Although this was the hero course and they were supposed to be generally taught, there was the exception with her. While not the biggest problem in the world, making sure U.A. looked good for the media was crucial to making sure that they minimized the damage, they could cause. And with a figure so central to the USJ incident, it was perfect.

Truthfully, Hearn was very worried about the sports festival, but very good at hiding her worry. If she disappointed the school and the media, then their efforts would all have been in vain. What would the teachers think about her then?

"Well, let's get to it then! I'm going through the movements with you again so you can imprint them where they belong. Not in your thoughts, but in your procedural memory!"

Although most of the lesson was just repetition, Maribel's free time from lecturing gave her some much needed moments to experiment. With it, she confirmed a few things about the 'trick' she learned. It let her use a lot more power in a blow, but as logic follows, it would hurt more the harder she hit. Secondly, she could glide far whilst she was on the ground. And she had discovered an ability to jump especially high. Of course, it couldn't be maintained for long as she'd previously found out, but softening the aura helped her maintain it for longer. As a drawback, she had to reach a certain point before there was any noticeable effect in the trick. Just focusing a little wouldn't do anything, she would have to focus until just before she hit the breaking point.

She held an uneventful lunch with Momo and Kyoka, where she discussed with them the sports festival above everything else. Explaining in more detail what the school wanted from her. Kyoka was somewhat empathetic to her troubles. All of this made some thoughts go through her head. It'd be best if she got some information on the potential big players. Maribel knew Todoroki would be included in that group simply due to his quirk. At least from what she'd heard of it. Bakugo was fast, and she learned from asking Momo and Kyouka that he managed to blow out a big part of a building. Outside of that, she couldn't think of someone who'd legitimately surprise her. There were, of course, a few people she didn't know the quirks of in the class, and also out of class, but nobody had made any big fuss yet. Maybe Midoriya could be there too, although that'd just be due to his overpowering strength.

After that, the principal requested her presence for a media interview of all things. It wasn't all that important, but she told him what to say.

The last hero lesson since Thursday was one where she didn't request any help, instead the whole lesson was dedicated to experimenting with her border spaces. The spaces that gaps could create between each other. She had ballooned them, created tight cannon-like spaces and whatever you could think of. There was a thought in her mind though, a sub-space. This would be a space where she could access the things she wanted through a sort of proxy. And if she could control the space within, she could control that world. A crazy thought, but Maribel couldn't come up with a way for it to work. But basing off of this idea, she began testing things.

Ten minutes before the class ended, she sat on a rooftop and thought.

 _Shinso declared war on the class, so he has some confidence. I couldn't find him after lunch a few days back, though. And I haven't seen him since, I've had some bad luck if that's the case. Currently my idea is perhaps to bring some of them onto a friendlier side in the middle of the bout. I know Shinso would consider me a friend before a foe, so just aiding him along the way might swing him over in the heat of the moment... Still, if he declared war on the class, I'll have to be somewhat discrete about it._

 _Hmm..._

 _I was thinking about Bakugo earlier, Bakugo. He might be worth keeping an eye on._

* * *

There was a distorted space forming just on the wall next to where Bakugo had been blasting before. And peeking out of it was one of his classmates. She looked innocent and calm, probably like she wanted to be portrayed that way. This was but one of the ideas that crossed the ash blond's mind as he stopped his personal exercise.

Waving his oversized gauntlet-like equipment at her, it looked like he was threatening to bonk her on the head. "Hey! Stop spying on me! Don't come thinking I'll offer you some kind of advantage, bitch!"

"Stop calling me that." The voice of Maribel Hearn called out mildly irritated. Her rather unnatural looking eyes met Bakugo's red ones, which immediately prompted him to back off. If she had to guess, her aura could leave some kind of impression through the eyes. And it wasn't merely that, her expression wasn't exactly friendly.

"Why are you here? You could've taken your stupid mouse hole anywhere else!" He continued shouting, their faces were oddly matching. _Why the hell does the principal need her for anything?! Any classmate performing exceptionally could take her role. You shouldn't get special treatment or a bunch of teachers helping you on every lesson!_

Hearn stepped out of her gap and straightened out. "I'm experimenting. My quirk isn't as blunt as yours. I have to think hard to find its value." She somewhat conceitedly compared them. In response, he leveled his face with hers, the three-centimeter difference lessening the impact of this.

"You moan about how fucking confusing your quirk is and how HARD it is to learn all the time, I don't give a shit! And I bet none of the classmates do, either." Flexing his muscles a little, he pointed at her intimidatingly and with an insultingly angry look. Hearn's posture changed from being less stiff to something more useful for walking away, even if she wasn't about to do that. Now shouting less and speaking as angrily as he could, he looked almost ready to attack her. "Don't think I don't hear shit from the rest of class. The principal wants you to be his little star. You think you can just walk over everyone because of that and get first place?"

Hearn kept a still expression for a bit and didn't move.

Katsuki was extremely petulant and hitting exactly the right points to piss Maribel off. She hadn't expected him to be a good judge of character, but she also felt he was merely guessing in large part. "Even if you win, you wouldn't have earned shit. It'd be as fake as your mood half the time! And I'll enjoy crushing you before y- Hrah!"

 **Whoosh.** Maribel's fist flew through a gap, almost colliding with Bakugo's face. A few bursts of explosions sent the boy back and out of the way, putting a good seven meters between the two. Staring him in the eye, Maribel couldn't help but give him something back. "If I was born with a quirk mature enough to cause pretty explosions, I might've been just like you. Luckily enough, I wasn't that unfortunate." The girl mockingly remarked and threw her fist down to her side and tilted her head back a little, allowing her to properly 'look down' on him. "My quirk's a lot more than it looks like. I only started out with these eyes. The gaps and everything else are something I've pushed my quirk to do. It's not like you. I haven't banged my hands together like an ape since I was a little kid and gotten all the praise for having an amazing quirk. Frankly, I hate the praise too."

He broke eye contact and activated his quirk like firecrackers to intimidate her. Twisting his angry expression into an eager and aggressive grin. It was safe to say, he was ready for a fight.

She'd sneer at him. Sighing and calming her voice just a little to exert an air of authority. "And don't think I'm duping anyone. I want this over with. The sooner I'm off of the news, the better. If that means talking to the people I like and love, I will." She declared proudly, the wording would be enough to make her blush if only for a particular word, but she was angry. "Maybe you're resentful of that, given you barely connect with anyone here."

The bombing king flew off in her direction, and Maribel was truly stressed this time. He was fast enough to dodge her first attack, but he didn't see things like she did. As a start, she'd have to break his velocity. So she made a very blunt swing of her arm from an easily noticeable distance through a gap. Not entirely unexpectedly, Bakugo dodged it by deflecting his momentum sideways to the left. In a follow-up maneuver, he blasted himself at her again, angling his hands behind him. Although the short distance and the close proximity to the wall would prevent her escape, it also prevented his freedom of movement. In the same instance the girl began sliding to the right and slipped partly through a gap and appeared very close to Bakugo's left. It was perfectly possible for him to reorient himself to counter, but her appearance would be somewhat unexpected.

Placing her right leg down just between his own, her arms appeared through another gap and tightened around his right. She was trying replicating what All Might had taught her. Maribel's leg performed something similar to a pigeon stretch and caught Bakugo in a takedown. His momentum was largely stopped, but their fall was slow because of it. Allowing his free hand to reach out and sock her in the head with a soft explosion, which wasn't enough to budge her. Once falling on top of him, she tossed her upper body closer to his head to keep him down.

Her inexperience with Bakugo would cost her the valuable position she just got herself into.

Blasting off into a spin, he tossed Maribel off of himself and made her roll away. Her recovery from something like this was far quicker than it was at USJ, but Bakugo was also quick to get up. He spun up like some sort of firework and landed on his feet. This time it seemed like he wanted to keep his distance. ... _Confident in close quarters, definitely stronger than she's given credit for. And she's not clueless about fighting, either, despite the sloppy takedown._ Bakugo cursed under his breath. _And she can approach me however she likes... Tricky._

Running her eyes across him in the same moment, he would even begin thinking of doing the same. Maribel jerked her hand to the side and created a border space gap. Enveloping a part of his leg, and specifically his costume in it and tightening up especially around the top of it. This way, she wasn't injuring him seriously. The metallic part of his costume, near his knee, started bending unnaturally as the sight of it was warped by her gap. _Wha- Shit!_ He grimaced angrily at the situation and pointed down into the gap with both of his hands, firing off an explosion and blowing that part of the suit off. Just enough to let his bare leg slip through.

It also saved him from a clean hit that Hearn could've landed on his head as her fist passed through a gap, something he barely noticed. Now, he wasn't quite in the same position as before. Since he had tossed himself into the air, he had blast himself down instead. And he did so in a spin of explosions. They would in turn, gather together a lot of oxygen and Maribel realized this by the familiar sound it was creating. Her expression eased for the second before it hit, filling Bakugo with uncertainty to be proven right. Instead of colliding with Hearn, he passed into the sky above Ground Beta just as his quirk ignited an explosion with all the air he'd been carrying. Bouncing him even farther into the air, easily twice the height of an building in the surrounding area.

"Hrrrngh!" He groaned as he tried stabilizing his velocity and began to slowly let himself down. Touching down on the rooftop of a building soon enough.

 _I'm going to kill that bitch at the festival..._

* * *

Next week, Maribel and her friend met again. Much closer to night time. Maribel took Renko out for a walk to the nearby forest that featured the shortcut to the public transport. 26th of April was a day of interest because of the full moon, an occasion when Maribel had always found herself somewhat energetic. Before she started at U.A., or even manipulating boundaries, there had been times where she felt like she had a sugar rush. There was no confirmed connection between her quirk and the state of night and day, but they had to go outside anyway and the hours they were available to meet were close to the evening.

"Let's begin. Can you show me how you tried to trap an object outside space?" Renko asked, setting herself down on a nearby log.

Her blonde friend looked around for something in the meanwhile, acquiring a stick off of the ground and inspecting it. "Just a moment." She said and created two gaps, controlling them like a single cylinder, she moved the stick inside and tightened the gap in the boundaries. There was the sound of wood twisting and tearing for a moment until Maribel stopped focusing on just that. It stuck out on one end and not on another, so everything was ready. Hearn swung her hand down as a way to easily mentally snap one end of the gap out of existence. Turning the space inside into a null and shunting the stick out so fast that it sounded like a bullet. The boundary girl herself almost jumped in surprise, and Renko definitely did.

The physics student raised both her hands and jumped from her seat a little, throwing up her arms in front of her face. There was a couple of seconds of silence, but it was broken by the blonde. "Come on Renko. It wasn't that dangerous. Anyway, that's how it's always been. I usually do it with air in large quantities, but firing projectiles also works. I've been thinking about calling it Fight the Ocean."

"Uh..." The brunette lowered her hands and sat down on the log again. Curling a hand into a fist and clearing her throat. "It needs documenting, but I believe you." Renko said and stood up. "But let's move onto that aura thing you've been talking about. Have you ever tried manipulating a boundary whilst using it?"

A drop of sweat made its free journey down Maribel's forehead. "Oh, no. Not really..."

"Well, try."

Spinning on her heel, Hearn faced Renko properly and pointed at her with the palm facing up. "Alright." Continuing, Maribel closed her eyes and focused on her senses. Then the base of her spine and coalesced her aura from there into a sort of bubble around herself. Opening her eyes, a purple glow emanated from Maribel. Now, she looked a bit burdened. "I'm going to try focusing on this for a bit..."

 _I'll try my hand at the subspace again..._

Raising her hand into the air in one swift motion, the purple afterimage follow and cut open a large gap in the sky. Out from its edges, the space inside ballooned to massive proportions as the other end expanded into the night sky. Barely visible to anyone who couldn't see it. There was a faint outlying glow around the edges of the gap. Soon enough, what was visible started shrinking, leaving mostly the space for the boundary girl to feel. It was easily the largest she'd ever created.

Air started being sucked up, but it only sounded like a high pitched screech and nothing else. _Such a small entrance prevented the usual effects of Double Boundary._

 _..._

"I could use it, but it's a bit too big to be applicable. My idea was to hide in one as a defense, but I might as well just use a normal one as a shield. Even if it makes it harder to attack at the same time." Hearn pondered over her ability, placing two fingers upon her chin.

Renko patted Maribel's back for a moment. "You never know when things come in handy. There's a lot of equipment that's only slightly different from other things, but it works a hundred times better with such simple changes."

"I know, but I'm just thinking of something inaccessible to an enemy." _And I don't want to experience something like **that**... Ever again. _The blonde thought back to USJ. Slowly, the glow around her ended, making her ache all over for a moment and cringe in pain. "Gnh...!"

Snapping her fingers, Renko came with the thoughts faster than Maribel ever could. "Look for another boundary, then. You can already go to the Dream World, why not somewhere else? Why not a dream, or why not just think of your own world?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Hearn recovered from the sudden shock. "...I'm not sure if it's that simple. But I'll never find out if it is without trying..." The friend smiled. "Thank you for being so encouraging, I wouldn't be at U.A. without you."

Renko took the gratitude wholeheartedly, but it seemed like Merry's quirk was on her mind. "It's no problem, but you should be looking for that boundary, yeah?"

Maribel nodded. "Hm." Once more, her sense of atmosphere and sight focused. Boundaries and auras tuned into focus and she searched her surroundings, her inner self. Time was a standstill for her in these moments.

 _The boundary of the dream world._

 _The boundary of a dream._

 _The boundary of a thought._

 _The boundary of a self._

 _I am separated from the rest of the world by boundaries and so are my thoughts, they give me form. And so do they everyone else._

All the boundaries she saw and felt filtered out from her sight, leaving her only with what separated her from the rest of the world.

 _Why not think of my own world?_

One boundary came into existence, a world confined to her own mind. Fit for her purposes, a black void, a subspace.

Focusing, the atmosphere changed as she started glowing. And she sent her hand up slowly, creating a large gap in place of the moon. Emanating the same glow as her along its edges, it was apparent that the trick had some impact on her ability. There was no light inside it, and cast a shadow down on them. It didn't take long before the gap started to suck things in and Maribel looked perplexed.

Renko held onto her hat as the wind began pulling on her skirt and almost her entire body. "It's getting a bit windy! Stop!"

"...-Let's!" Hearn burst out and extinguished the gap. The wind stopped, dumping some leaves and dirt down onto the surrounding. However, there was a lot less of it than she thought there would be.

They only stood there for thirty seconds straight as Maribel unfocused herself again. Breathing heavily, it felt as if all her strength was gone, she couldn't stand up anymore and so fell back onto her bottom and then carefully laying down. "Let's... Uh..." She tried to find the words, dizzy. "...Go back home..."

* * *

The days came and went. What was most unusual was her lack of a normal dream, however. Since Thursday, her dreams had felt disembodied yet as experienced as could be. As if she was a third person watching through someone else. A plethora of figures had come and gone through the short-lived memory of her dream. Her recollection of them had faded, but there was one she could recognize. Renko or someone that looked suspiciously like her. It was all so clouded, and nothing she could revisit. The one actual dream she had on Wednesday was just the dream of a baku. But it just didn't reach to her, she couldn't remember any of it aside from that. Maybe her dream self was having some fun interactions with Doremy? She couldn't know.

Nonetheless, her 'real' dreams were unique although she couldn't interact with them properly. It was like a lucid dream where she couldn't do anything and everything, and what she wanted wasn't sure to happen. Clearly, her dream and real selves weren't in synchronization.

As for the teachers she requested, there was a set of teachers she asked for. Both because she knew they were great, and because they might teach her things that should be applicable to her just as they are applicable to them.

All Might's combat prowess, genius and experience lent themselves well to support the physical side of things. Eraserhead was good when it came to adapting her attacks to a situation, which helped her advance her focusless gaps to an extent and train the gap-centered techniques she had picked up. Her body and mind hadn't quite made an acquaintance of their styles, strategies and movements, but it was a great boon even for a beginner.

Out of curiosity, she brought in Snipe, who advised her to start using rubble and the like as projectiles in her gaps. He told a few things about how a barrel made aim precise, helped her experiment with velocity and such. Her knowledge still remained imprecise, but just as before, a very good starting point.

Ectoplasm was the last teacher she overtly asked for. Just like her, he had the ability to engage a target from many different angles at once. Their means were different, Maribel couldn't duplicate herself, but a leg and an arm attacking from two sides is just the same. His strategy was what she was out for. The result wasn't all that great, attacking and controlling the opponent from multiple directions was pretty difficult. Not to say she didn't understand it, but if she learnt it then it would have to be in the heat of the moment.

For the final lesson. Her first intention was to experiment with her quirk, where she attempted more exotic moves. Then she decided to seek Iida out again. Over the course of the two weeks, she had tried to get a bit closer to him in their free time. Sending him pictures of herself and engaging in some friendly conversation over their phones. When she wasn't preoccupied with something in school, she usually hanged with him too. Either that or Momo, who helped her lessen the burden of schoolwork through these intense times for her.

Due to Maribel's extreme focus on her capabilities unique from her normal Boundary Manipulation prowess, she had forgot to think about its larger versatility. A mastery over spatial gaps was good, but it was all she'd been working on. No, for once she tried experimenting with what drained her most. Flipping the other boundaries. At first she tried it by flipping the boundary between things. It was human perception that something could be on one side of something else, but nonetheless, Maribel saw a boundary. Tossing a rock, she found herself in the air just before landing, falling down out of confusion and trying again.

After a bit of thought, she wanted to show it off to Iida. So she searched for him and asked him about trying it out. The street they were on was empty like the last time she looked for him during one of these classes. "In short. If I flip the boundary between us, we change location."

"You did talk about flipping boundaries a while ago. Although I never really understood it." Iida calmly offered his thoughts on the matter. "Just don't hurt me, okay?!"

"No, no! I won't. This isn't a spar like last time." Hearn's gleeful smile brought an ease to Iida's concern. It had hurt a lot when she used a drop to kick him on his back, apparently he didn't want to go through that again. "Could you stand on the sidewalk there?" Her hand jump up and pointed at the asphalted sidewalk on the side of the road. Not in a hurry, Iida turned his head and began walking on over there.

"Please don't surprise me either!" He let out after he got in position and bowed almost like a robot. It was kind of cute to look at.

"Alright." Maribel sighed and focused her quirk, turning her eyes into their familiar ghostly state. All of the boundaries around her became clearly visible, and she could feel them, for a moment she imagined an infinitely extending pane between her and Iida.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

With a quick thought she spun it or more rather, instantly inverted. In the visible wavelength of light, Maribel's vision changed as she had experimented earlier. Her feet stood perfectly still on the sidewalk, and Iida stood in her former position. Hearn didn't speak at first and instead just thought. Just what can I do now? I tried this just after I started manipulating boundaries, but it didn't work. Now I can do it flawlessly. "...Well, that's that."

Maribel closed her eyes to unfocus her quirk, which she spent 10 seconds doing. Whilst she did, Iida put his own words out there. "I haven't seen anything like that before. Nobody's going to be able to counter it, are they?"

Opening her eyes, Maribel was greeted to Iida having walked closer to her. With his helmet on and everything, it was challenging to notice his mood. She didn't quite like it, but it was moderately stupid to complain about. "Well, aside from that warp gate. I haven't encountered anyone with a quirk like mine. ...To tell you the truth, I don't think I have any competition. Since I'm pretty good, maybe I can help the rest of the class?"

Iida held out a hand as he spoke. "I don't believe they've put up any rules about cooperation between people in the sports festival, although it's not very sportsmanship like. The agencies that have an eye on the festival may not like it." And then placed it on his hip as he continued. "But if you're just looking to win, there's nothing stopping you. And if you really want to help other classmates, I suppose that just makes you more of a team player, some people like that."

"That sounds accurate. But anyway, I'm going to take some time sharpening my skills. The festival's tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..." Maribel looked away from Iida for a moment and cupped her hands together, letting them harmlessly land on her lap. "Hey, Iida. Maybe we could do something on the Tuesday after?"

"EH!?"

* * *

The night before the sports festival was once that Maribel would've expected to be calm, wished for even. But so it would not be. That she had little presence in the one dream where she was sure that youkai was involved in was probably a fluke. And the amount of 'real' dreams too. It was in these moments where she wished she had dedicated more time to mastering the boundary between her and her dream self. It didn't seem like the baku went to the real world, or at least, didn't prefer doing so.

But it was too late for regrets, she had to deal with the situation she was just forced into.

 _ZUN - Touhou 15: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom - A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before_

"You see, there are rules here. You are not allowed to interfere with the dream world without permission. I will not have it." Doremy told Hearn as they floated through a familiar space consisting of oddly colored grids and celestial bodies. The baku was in perfect control of her orientation, whilst Hearn spun like usual. This was a bad situation that Maribel wouldn't want to be involved in, but she simply didn't comply out of her own curiosity.

"Excuse me then. I'll stop manipulating this boundary." The boundary girl retorted. Doremy's usually smug look mutated a frown. It looked somewhat disturbing to look at in all honesty, not because of the way it looked but because of how it felt.

Doremy Sweet sighed and looked oddly satiated for a moment before smiling devilishly. "Good, I'll make sure of that." Before beginning a slow glide towards her. It felt... threatening, and Hearn didn't know what she was actually going to do. It would've been quicker if not for Maribel's eyes being able to pick up on these small instances. They were two meters away, if Doremy's usual speed wasn't just for movement, Maribel had no chance if she attacked.

But she had to try before attempting an escape. _...Would I even be fast enough to do that?_ In an attempt to throw the first attack, Hearn jerked her leg into a kick without a proper spin and created a gap at the point just before extension. Since she had actually trained for this kind of stuff, it went through and was abruptly stopped by the baku pulling out her book just in its way. The impact hurt and Maribel was sent spinning as she enlarged the gap for her passage to avoid getting stuck. Trying to pull away from the youkai, Maribel created another gap to grapple and pull herself away with.

 **Smack!**

Doremy spun around in a half circle, stopped and let her unreasonably long night-cap do the work for her. The puffy ball on the end flew and smacked Hearn in her chest faster than she could react and did the gap's job for it. "-Guh!" Hearn let slip as the air was knocked out of her lungs. In a quick follow up that she could only imagine All Might replicating, the baku turned into a streak of colors as she spun around on her vertical axis.

 **Puff!**

Came another blow. For such a normally harmless part of a hat, it hurt a lot to be hit with. Especially in the face. Worst of all, Maribel could tell that the baku wasn't quite trying. Having received the impact, Hearn started drifting away a little, noticing some blood trickling down from her nose. Recovering from the reeling, she glanced in Doremy's direction to see she just kept the same smile. Taunting. _I could, I could... I could lure her into a gap._

Maribel reached out and grasped at a nothing, a transparent gap forming and bending inwards to create a space between things. It wasn't all that big, but no air seemed to funnel into it either. Maribel had figured a while ago that there was no air here although you could still breathe. Grasping the wall of space, Hearn tossed herself forward into the gap which led just behind Doremy. The baku was just about to turn and send the end of her nightcap flying at her again. Thankfully, the starting movement was all Maribel needed to capitalize.

 _Boundary between Maribel and Doremy..._

Unexpected by the enemy, Doremy replaced Maribel and vice versa. With just a moment to act, Hearn started to compress her gap as hard as she could as she drifted away and carried her former momentum. There was a sound, but not of crushing limbs or anything. Where the gap was, instead, purple clouds of stuff. It looked like a dream soul. Coming to a conclusion, Hearn knew she had likely not ended anything.

Gathering like rain drops, it all formed into one big pink bubble and burst to reveal the dream youkai once again. "This may take a while." The baku commented as she frowned again and pulled out some kind of trumpet out of thin air.

"..." Hearn didn't say anything, instead pulling on the boundary between real and dream self. But something was preventing her. Hearn didn't notice it at first, but she felt that god. Panting a little, her stress overcame her and Hearn pulled on the boundary between her and her dream self. Doremy lunged in her direction whilst her vision blurred into a mixture of dark and imagination. A dream.

 ** _Get back here!_**

 _Song: End_

* * *

For a moment, it felt like she was going to return to the fight. Doremy had her own power over dreams, and as long as she stayed connected to her dream self, that was made certain. But at just that moment, it all turned bright in her eyes.

"She won't bother you for now." A most memorable voice resounded all around Maribel. She barely recognized where she was until her vision cleared. A familiar silhouette presented itself, a god. "Welcome to this place, where destiny is made. As I've said, we meet again."

Hearn was still floating around, but it was a lot less like being stuck in space. It was just them. She wiped her nose to get rid of whatever blood had been spilled, but there was none, contradictory to what she had seen earlier. With a rapid glance, Hearn appreciated her appearance properly. The god looked more like a phantom, but there was certainly color and shape to it. Okina Matara wore a green skirt that reached down past her knees, a yellow tabard lined with a familiar set of symbols. ...So that's it. Hearn though back to the cube-like object. Rather than standing this time, she seemed to be sitting on some kind of throne that floated around, a backdoor positioned just behind it. Other than that, she emitted a radiant glow.

"Uh..." _I call a god -sama, right?_ "Matara-sama. Where am I?"

"This is the land of the backdoor. My realm."

"Like the dream world."

"It is of my own creation. Someone of sufficient power should be no stranger to such works of wonder." The god explained, calmly placing two fingers on her chin as her arm balanced on the armrest of her throne. "Listen to me..." She spoke, her mature voice reverberating from every location. "...I've been looking for someone who can fulfill a certain purpose for a very long time, and you are exactly that. That is why you are chosen. I'm not letting a mere youkai get in the way of me, even if I'm not as worshiped as I once was."

"-I see... Matara-sama, can you tell me what the trick Nishida-san taught me actually does?" Maribel asked. The words came naturally, and although Maribel wanted to be hesitant about what she asked, there was clarity and confidence in what she could say. If spoken normally, she would've probably been far more reluctant to ask these questions. If this god was capable of manipulating mental energy, then that would be her doing. _So it's what she wants._

"Hmm. Your 'quirk' as you call it, allows you to feel the auras of people. The entirety of your family has some sort of variation of this quirk, and you've had for generations. In truth, anyone could do it. It's just a matter of... training, discipline and wisdom. By focusing your aura and creating a proper spiritual form of yourself, your latent energy is released and you would become much stronger. One of many beginnings into other arts. Unrelated to your Boundary Manipulation." The god monologued calmly and confidently. She straightened out, the phantom figure of her 'body' showcasing her form. Her hair, although apparently blonde like Maribel's own, was almost like gold as it settled on her shoulders. "The only trick to mastering this is experience, and you will find plenty of that soon enough."

Hearn's eyebrows raised. "The sports festival, Matara-sama?"

"Yes..." _Yes... Yes... Consider it all a test. Can you find the mood, your spirituality, the method? I will help you, if you do your best._

It echoed through Maribel's mind. A feeling inside of her was overwhelming, a disembodying feeling.

Maribel woke up.

* * *

The sports festival was today. She had woken up extremely early in the morning, at 04:00. But she didn't feel that different from having rested well. It was exactly like when she traveled into the dream world for an extended period of time. Even though she barely slept.

Hearn packed her backpack and went on over to U.A. High just after eating breakfast. When she arrived, it was still an hour before they were actually supposed to be there, but the teachers didn't really reject her presence. While she had the time, she went to talk with Nezu.

"I was just wondering what we will actually be doing during the festival. Or am I not allowed to know that yet?"

The two of them were sitting in the sofas located in the Principal's office, Hearn was treated to some tea whilst Nezu enjoyed his coffee. "Despite the efforts we've put in, I hadn't intended for you to know all the activities beforehand... That said, it's only a couple of hours before they are announced. While it may appear that the activities are randomized, we have to have some level of preparation to hold a festival. So if you see anything implying the opposite, it's for show. First, there's the obstacle course. I presume you may understand what that implies, but the obstacles won't exactly be typical. If I may ask, avoid trying to win it all instantaneously."

"Why?" Hearn raised both her eyebrows.

"Sportsmanship. If you win it just like that." Nezu snapped his fingers. "Then there may as well never have been a competition. It comes across as cheating, something the media will enjoy exploiting. Especially if the other students feel a sense of defeat over it."

She nodded. "I was going to attempt and bring forth those I want to see in the second round. That way, I'd have more knowledge on my competitors. If I do that, I'll have something stopping me from just taking it home."

"Wise. Still, helping other participants might give them a perceived unfair advantage." He replied and sipped some coffee.

"My gaps don't make much sound. If you don't point the cameras in certain places and don't talk about it, then you certainly won't be hearing anything about it from the media. Or are they the ones providing footage?" Her right arm was held out to Nezu so that his full attention was given. Thereafter she sipped her tea.

Placing his cup down, Nezu put his hand together into his lap. "Oh, we'll do that. But the other participants might still have a thing or two to say, so you should be picky about who you decide to help."

"So be it."

He raised his index finger. "The second round consists of the cavalry battle. All forty-two who managed to pass the obstacle course will take part in a four-per-team battle. You are given points based on your position in the race. Displayed via headbands, you're supposed to try and take these from each other. There are a few more details, but this is the general gist of it. Each team will have to carry each other."

"Mhm."

Numbering the final round, he brought out his middle finger. "At last, you will compete in a one-on-one setting. For this year, we've selected a simple battle. The first four teams from the last round will be participating."

Nodding, Hearn decided to quickly slurp down all the tea in her cup, putting it down and standing up. Bowing respectfully. "Thank you for informing me. I should be getting ready. Have a good day." To which he could only respond with a neutral look as she turned and left the office.

The class should be coming to school now.

* * *

The door where the class was starting to gather was already open. Stressful is what it was to see all of her classmates right now, just like she imagined it to be. But at the same time she felt like she could bear it.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the school's efforts, she would only halfheartedly participate. She wasn't even thinking about the sports festival that much as she stepped in. No, the events from this night were far clearer in her head. That baku wouldn't stop creeping into her thoughts.

Maribel stepped inside the room without saying anything, she looked around and met Bakugo's eyes for a moment. She gave him a subtle frown as she moved away from his direction and sat down next to Momo. "...I've a feeling this will be very irritating."

"It's a big day for everyone. We've got to do our best." Momo looked at her, placing her cheek in her hand and balancing her head with her elbow.

Sighing, Maribel straightened out a bit and stretched. Despite the odd lack of sleep that she could feel, she was still energetic. It didn't mix well and almost made her feel dirty, like she had bags under her eyes. "Yes. Yes... Where's Iida?"

"Iida-san? He went to go and check when we're up. He'll be back to tell us." Kyouka walked on over and sat down on the other side of Maribel. "Must be tiring for you, with all the media presence around."

"Maybe I haven't spoken much about it... The media has interrupted me on my way home, asked for interviews within the school and so forth. It's all so tiring, I just want to toss them all over a bridge and be done with it..." Hearn faceplanted into the desk. Keeping a neutral and unfeeling expression as she did.

Chatter was prevalent among the class, even as some were lost in thought. But it would wall be broken soon enough.

The door opened to reveal Iida, whom Maribel instantly set her eyes on. "Everyone! are you ready?! We will be entering soon!"

In response, she pushed her chair out and turned, walking on over to him. "Yes!"

Whilst she was on her way towards Iida, her eyes suddenly started following Todoroki who returned the favor. But he'd soon enough break eye sight as he stood a few meters from the doorway and looked down towards Midoriya. "Midoriya. Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you." He began, somewhat dramatically as if he wanted to drive home a point. Hearn titled her head to the side in mere confusion. Even hinting at your intentions in such a competitive environment is quite foolish, even if you may call it disrespectful. "But all might still has his eye on you, doesn't he? ...I'm not going to pry about that. But I am going to beat you."

Kaminari leaned back and twisted his head to look at the sudden conflict. "Oh? Is this a declaration of war?"

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't pick a fight all of a sudden, we're about to star-" Kirishima tried to shine in on their little bout of words. But was pushed back by Todoroki.

Hearn gave one glance at Iida, who was eagerly waiting for everyone to finally start leaving the room.

"We're not here to-" Todoroki was interrupted.

With a stomp on the floor, Hearn's hero costume's shoes dominated all other sounds with a loud clack noise. "And we're not stupid enough to expose who we're targeting. Stop acting like a little kid and don't keep us waiting." She spat in his direction, which was enough to put a stop to him. He turned around and glared at her, something she didn't even bother returning. Almost everyone in the room felt that the tension shifted over to the other half of the room and whoever was going to speak next felt silenced. "1-A. Let's move." The blonde declared, turned around and put a hand on Iida's shoulder.

He raised his left hand and signaled for everyone to follow. "Right, let's go!"

Most of the class stood up and started leaving after the two as fast as they could. Bakugo stayed for a little bit, just eyeing Midoriya and Todoroki before leaving.

"I'll see you out there." Todoroki declared in a coldly menacing demeanor before walking out the door. Midoriya was the last to leave.

* * *

Through the long corridor they went, while Present Mic's voice echoed all over the place. Maribel steeled her heart and focused, an overwhelming heat washing over her in a moment of self-discovery. Her heart beat faster, and her breathing became more frequent.

 **"Hey! Pay attention, audience!"** It echoed.

 **"Gather around, mass media!"**

 **"It's time to see the High Schoolers you know and love revel in their youth! The U.A. Sports Festival is about to begin!**

He changed into English. **"Everbody, ARE YOU READY!?"**

 **"It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!"**

Fireworks resounded across the sky as the class stepped out. Maribel herself was in front. It wasn't like the media was going to ignore her even if she stood in the back.

 **"The U.A. Sports Festival! The one time each year when our fledgling heroes compete in a grand battle! First up, you know who I'm talking about! The miraculous rising stars who were central in repelling a villain attack!"**

 **"Hero course!"**

 _This is it..._

 **"Class 1-A!"**

Maribel didn't want to turn her head around, but her eyes told her all she needed to know. The seats were packed, and the entire stadium being as big as a large hill didn't help the impression. There were easily thousands of viewers, not even counting online presence. She felt like she was supposed to be stressed, but nothing ever came to her. _Mental energy?_ Her eyes went to the other tunnels around the place.

 **"They haven't been on the news as much, but this class is also full of talent! Hero course, 1-B!"**

They looked quite a bit different than their class. But looks didn't tell much.

 **"Next up! General studies, C, D and E!"** Present Mic announced, Maribel's eyes darting to get a look. _There's Shinso._ She thought as she spotted someone with familiar indigo hair, and messy to match.

 **"Support course! F, G and H are here too!** **And business course, I, J and K!"**

 **"All of our first years are here now!**

They all started gathering in the middle of a square red plain. In front of them stood Midnight, one of her teachers, waiting for them to assemble. Once they were organized into a neat square, she raised her whip and spoke out loud with her voice being boosted. **"Time for the player pledge!"**

Maribel didn't normally have much of an issue with Midnight. But for a top of the line school, having a hero centered around being revealing showcased a lack of class or decency. It wasn't a big complaint, but she'd much prefer someone more formally dressed. "Was it necessary to dress up in her hero costume?" Hearn asked nobody in particular.

"Yeah, what the hell is she wearing?" Kirishima agreed with her sentiment.

Kaminari stated the obvious. "That's the R-rated hero for you."

"At a high school, though? Is that okay?"

"YES!" Mineta let out, almost sounding like a rubber duck and earning a death stare from Maribel. Which made him tense up.

 **"Quiet, everyone! Representing the students is-"**

Maribel's ears honed in on what she was saying, and it felt like everything slowed down. **"M-a-e-r-i-b-e-r-r-i H-a-a-n"** She heard. And everything seemed to resume. _...Did it really have to be? Nezu..._

 **"-From Class 1-A!"** Midnight cheerily announced. Whilst Maribel somewhat irritably stepped away from the spot, she was on and didn't look back at anyone else. Her ascent was a little slow, but once she was up she'd align herself with the microphone. For a brief moment, she paused. Cameras pointed at her from practically every direction and gave everyone a view of both her face and body. She wore the gym uniform that you'd receive at U.A. and her hair had grown significantly along the last tow weeks, stretching down just to her shoulders now. One could say she forgot to go to the barber.

And so the time to speak came. Maribel wasn't going to pledge anything about playing it fairly, it would be totally unfitting. **"I pledge to eliminate any doubts placed on this school."**

She paused.

 **"Cheer me on, Renko."** Maribel finished, turning around gracefully and sighing with some relief. She was very close to saying something much more aggressive. Then she walked back down the steps.

First, all the first years stared at her. Her class was particularly neutral, though. Of course they would, they actually understood what she was talking about and many would probably have expected it. Except for one thing, that thing was Renko. Unlike if she boasted indiscriminately or displayed total arrogance, people resorted to chatter among themselves.

"Who the hell is Renko?" They asked rhetorically. "That's the girl who saved Eraserhead, right?" They inquired from their classmates. "How did she recover so quickly?"

Maribel was content with what she'd said. It was innocent to everything but the media, and may deflect some of the bad reputation that the others could've given them. So she made her way back into the line, making sure not to bump into anyone.

One of the screens at the top edge of the arena shifted. **First game.** It spelled.

 **"Now, let's get started right away."** Midnight started speaking again. **"The first game is what you'd call a qualifier!"** _The obstacle course._ **"Every year, many drink their tears here! Now, here is the fateful first game!"**

Midnight swung her whip up and a holographic display lit up behind her. Featuring a slot machine-like spin between different games. But they have already picked them, no? **"This year, it's... THIS!"**

"An obstacle race!" Midoriya couldn't help but say.

"Hmm." Hearn mumbled to herself.

The screen shifted to display the event in question and was narrated by their teacher. Right now it was showcasing all the different classes. **"All eleven classes will participate in this race."** The frame changed to display the course itself, which went around the entire stadium. **"The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium. About four kilometers!"** Midnight finished explaining and turned to the class again. Licking her lips in a way that Maribel wasn't at all comfortable with. **"Our school's selling point is freedom! As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do!"** The hero posed for the class by pulling her whip back just above her shoulder and holding out an open palm to them. In turn, the audience cheered loudly and Maribel sighed once again.

If it wasn't the sun, the people or the event itself. It was the prelude that was getting to her nerves. Hearn sighed and prepared to focus. **"Now, take your places everyone!"** One of the larger gates' lights lit up, the red door frame indicating exactly where they were supposed to be. Maribel made her way there quickly and tried to get in front so she could easily leave everyone behind before she was swarmed. So she prepared to run, lining up among her classmates.

 **Bwuuum.** One light went out, Hearn's muscles tensed a little. **Bwuuum.** The second one went out. **Bwuuum.**

 **"Start!"**

Everyone ran. She ran. Eyes turned into an eerie violet as she suddenly slipped past everyone and right past the entrance. Sprinting out onto the dirt with nothing stopping her. Even without relying on her gaps, Hearn was very quick on her feet. If nobody would come out soon, then she'd be leaving everyone else behind.

 **"Okay, here's the play-by-play! Are you ready to the commentary, Mummy Man?"** Present Mic asked, resounding from the speakers. Hearn continued running now that she was past everyone, but slowed down a little to keep track of what's behind her.

 **"That's why I'm here, isn't it?"** _That's Aizawa-sensei._

 **"Let's get started right away, Mummy Man. What should we pay attention to in the early stages?"**

 **"...This part right now."**

Icy fog welled out of the entrance.

* * *

 **And finally, I've gotten it started. I'm planning to keep each of the first two rounds to single chapters. They might get a little long, though.**


	19. Databook: Maribel Hearn (Chapter 17)

**MARIBEL HEARN**

 **Very amicable among those she cares about, but may come across as a little repressed.  
Strung along by a god to mysterious heights.**

In the past, her quirk was useless in the practical sense. But with a will and some newfound confidence, she tore herself through a boundary and left her nightmares behind! She despises a lack of will and incapability, finding it relatable in a bad way. Knowledge, sociability, status and wealth were all things she'd admire in a person, but even a bad character will push her away. Despite all of this, what she dislikes most can at most be broken down to people incessantly reaching out to her, especially due to her quirk.

Compared to a few weeks ago, her mood has changed! But can it take all that's ahead?

"I only started out with these eyes. The gaps and everything else are something I've pushed my quirk to do."

 **Personal Data**

Currently Attending: UA Hero High School, Class 1-A

Previous School: Shinrin Junior High School

Birthday: March 3

Height: 175 cm

Blood type: O

Birthplace: Western Europe

Favorites: Watching the Moon, Tea

Fighting Style: Improvised - **Lacking in mastery of bodily movements, she usually relies on on-the-fly attacks combined with the things her teachers have attempted to drill into her. Resulting in a largely inconsistent hodgepodge of a style, dictated almost entirely by how she faces her opponent. Despite this, she does have a few really strong special techniques and a super attack centered around her quirk.**

Hero Stats

 **Power - 5/5 - A**

 **Speed - 4/5 - B**

 **Technique - 4/5 - B**

 **Intelligence - 4/5 - B**

 **Cooperativeness - 2/5 - D**

Words from an _friend?_ — Hitoshi Shinso

"I can't say I dislike that she recovered. But as she's in the hero course, I can't help but feel somewhat resentful. A warp quirk is something powerful to be blessed with, but she doesn't seem to be seeking popularity. While I'd like to prove myself as capable, I don't have much issue with her. She's doesn't flaunt her quirk and the fact that she got into the course around like I feel other students do."

* * *

 **QUIRK: BOUNDARY MANIPULATION**

 **A door on her back!  
** Mysterious as could be and as ancient as Japan itself! The full potential of Okina Matara's secret ability has yet to be revealed, yet it already energizes Hearn to go beyond! Plus Ultra!... But for what purpose?

 **See beyond what others can! All of the boundaries are within her control!  
** Potentially undermining the laws of reality itself! Maribel uses it primarily to control and travel through space, finding various applications through it. Her ultimate technique is most surely her border spaces, utilized for versatile super moves like Double Boundary! What lies in store for her quirk is beyond her, leading her to delve beyond the depths of her mind!

 **A sense of quirks and surroundings!  
** Is her ability to sense the aura of things and people a part of her quirk or not!? It doesn't matter so much to her, but by focusing her own she can raise both the power of her body and start gliding as if she were about to fly! Perhaps it even empowers her boundary manipulation?

 **HERO NAME: Undecided**

 **Hero Suitability**

 **Highly effective in a pinch!**  
Once forced into a corner that she can't easily get out from, not because she cannot move, she becomes far more dangerous than she'd otherwise be. Cutting, breaking, adapting, anything to defeat her opponent! As long as she remains on the non-lethal side...

 **Emotionally driven!**  
Most recently she's found herself being led around in part to her emotion. The media irritates her, and she wishes to be done away with them. Pointless aggression, indecency and poor communication are all things that she rejects with what she thinks is justified anger. But is it just anger? It looks like affection, and maybe even friendship among her classmates has started stirring within her!

* * *

 **Shinso is more fond of Maribel than he is anyone else in the hero course, but it doesn't go beyond being 'maybe friends', unless something happens during the sports festival.**

 **You may also notice that her stats have bumped up a little, particularly in the power department. This is because of the second most recent thing she discovered. As for technique, it's all because of the teachers. But she hasn't ingrained it all too well into her fighting style, so it isn't especially heightened. Her cooperation has lowered, if only because of her quirk flipping out on her sometimes and worsening relations with a few select students.**

 **If you're expecting Maribel to try and win things as hard as she can, then you're probably wrong. Her current focus is in making things easy for her whilst maintaining an air of sportsmanship. Largely, this means bringing people she feels she can trust onto her side and people she knows about on her side. To do this, she's going to take a longer road in how she tries to pass the obstacle course.**

 **I already feel like I know what to do after the sports festival, and you might guess something about Stain. But that's not really what I have in mind, in fact, I've already hinted at some things all the way back to chapter 11. Stain might be a little part of the arc I'm planning, but generally I was planning something more Hunter x Hunter-ish. So instead of a big battle arc it's a bit more of a mystery arc, although the mystery wouldn't be what I would focus on if that's the case. Still in the idea stages.**

 **Maribel may start doing some familiar things during the festival though, that's all for now. Expect clashes of character with some of the major characters.**


	20. Chapter 18: Obstacle Course

Ice cracked and fog sprayed as one figure came sprinting out of the gate, abruptly falling into a slower pace after he passed it. Some of those behind him almost fell over due to the sudden stop of their advance. For a moment, he almost believed he had eliminated his competition, but he was wary. Grey and blue eyes scouted every participant he passed, and once he got past the gate, one stood far ahead of him. He recognized her as Maribel Hearn. A girl who had miraculously survived fatal injures and obtained the top scores on some tests in the physical exam.

 **"And the miracle girl jumps to first place! She came close to breaking the record for the 50-meter dash, clearing it in less than a second! A promising heroine, and she's just starting! Cheer her on!"** Present Mic rambled on.

With a distant crowd's cheers, the girl spun around on her heel in the middle of her run, drastically slowing her momentum but not the distance between them. Twenty meters. Her eyes locked with his from afar, they were golden. _Normally, her eyes would turn purple when she used her quirk. To make an unseen approach that quick would require her to quickly shift in and out, or act without putting her into that state._

 _She's quick on her feet even without using her quirk, but I've no reason to keep up with her. Her quirk would allow her to easily cross any obstacle they might bring. However, slowing her down might slow some of those friends of hers down too._

Todoroki started sprinting on the thin sheet of ice he created under himself, a slippery surface that he could cling to with his shoes. He had endured a lot more constant training than her, keeping a speed similar to hers for a while wouldn't be a problem. Striking her with his quirk might be somewhat difficult, but it's not exactly necessary, either. His ice caught up to her nonetheless, his eyes purposefully diverting, imparting an air of being indiscriminate.

Still, she flinched when her shoes were caught in the ice. It didn't seem to be impeding him as much as he had hoped to. Spending a few seconds catching up to her, the odd lack of a counter surprised him. He instantly thought she must be plotting something. Reaching out from a five-meter distance, the fog of his right side lashed out towards her and left them shortly after. She had gone.

Shouto was curious for a moment. She had waited for him to attack before moving. Where did she go? He wondered, seeing no one far in front of him.

Two seconds passed.

 **"She's in the air!"** Present Mic roared out from the stadium speakers. Todoroki's eyes headed to the sky for a moment, but the sun obscured anything he could see right now.

Five.

Seven.

"Dark Shadow!"

Barely having time to turn his eyes, Todoroki was shoved by a familiar shadow. He almost stumbled, but regained his footing just before and briefly turned to face Tokoyami. Not wasting time to understand where he came from, a cloud of ice enveloped him as Todoroki began pushing on again. Irritated now.

"You ain't finishing before me!" Bakugo's fierce cry erupted from behind him. Not wasting more than a glance, the guy wasn't using his explosions to run right now. Todoroki didn't have much of an answer for him and was about to push him back when he noticed movement in his peripheral vision. Glancing forward, he saw Maribel Hearn once again at a thirty-meter distance. _They moved so quickly, she must have used my attack as a distraction._

Moving towards the first obstacle, a robot appears, one that Todoroki himself didn't get to meet. He had heard from the others in class that these would be the things that many of them faced during the entrance exam. Not every testing ground had the same test, apparently. Not like he would've been there to experience it, as he got through on recommendation.

Sparing all but a split second, Hearn briefly turned her head toward a 2-point villain. Within another second, it sank into the ground and was very quickly crushed by her quirk. Showering its mechanical corpse with mangled parts. An excellent showcase her quirk's dangerous but very applicable power.

 **"Using a _gap_ , or a warp gate like that is an excellent maneuver. Of course, if it had been living, she'd be softer." **Eraserhead spoke out, calm and analyzing as he usually was.

There was a brief pause before Present Mic spoke. **"She used this to save you from the villains, right?"**

 **"Yes. She was justified in not being nice about it, however."**

The girl kept running until she saw the looming shadows of a couple of 0-point villains. It's quite an obstacle for an obstacle course. Todoroki didn't know what she was thinking, but he'd abuse the opportunity. Sprinting up to her, he shoved her with his right side and unleashed a huge fog forwards. A huge glacier appeared in short order, piercing one of them with the tip of it and flash-freezing the bottom of a few adjacent ones. Stopping them in their tracks and putting them off balance. Pressing on, Todoroki ran up part of his glacier and vaulted over onto the other side.

 **"Todoroki stops her dead! Hah! This is the kind of exciting stuff you with the cameras should be pointing them at!"**

* * *

Maribel stood still and struggling, her eyes had now been purple for a while. With a great effort, the ice at her right leg broke off. Then, standing on her left leg, she banged her foot into it. Creating a big crack in it that made it possible to break parts of it off with a single quick movement. She spun around using it, eyeing the people around her who were almost in awe of the sudden appearance of the villains and the display of power. Jumping on the spot, Maribel reached a meter into the air before passing through a gap. Giving her a brief overview of this part of the course.

If it wasn't for her reaction time, this would almost be deadly.

Gazing down, Maribel swiped her finger subtly to the right, focusing on two boundaries and creating a gap. Located on two opposite ends of a 0-point villain's head. It was blocking the path behind the one Todoroki pierced. Instantly connecting and then closing at a much slower pace. A split second went, and the head of the robot was torn off of its body, falling off very slowly and disabling it.

 **"OOOOOOOH! Holy shit!"** Present Mic shouted in English. The head fell off and the robot began collapsing. **"What just happened?!"**

 **"It seems Merry is happy to show off her quirk. Take a good look."**

For a brief moment as her velocity stalled and her fall began, her eyes jumped between several people she knew and could see. Iida, Momo, Tokoyami, Ochaco, Bakugo, Midoriya, Mineta. Handpicked swiftly because she knew their quirks. If she knew her opponent, dealing with them would be easier at a later date. And perhaps making better friends with them in the team event. They appeared past the fog, confused at first, but quick to continue on the course.

Her downward velocity started increasing as her vision started descending in almost slow-motion.

She searched for one more person, but she wasn't an eagle. So she had to rinse the participants. Targeting anyone with any shade of purple on their head, they flowed out from a set of rapidly appearing and disappearing gaps at the edge of Todoroki's fog. Including Mina. Her eyes then fell as her fall intensified. There was a brief shine in them and she disappeared.

Maribel landed on the ground, hard, forty meters in front of any contestant. It hurt, but she took the landing like a champ. She had fallen from trees before as a kid, and if she'd had stayed up there for even three seconds longer, she might've broken a bone. _I'll have to be careful with what I'm doing, until I get to the second round, I'll have to limit myself to the skills from two weeks past to keep an advantage. And if I hurt myself, it's best it happens in the last round, if at all._

 **"She's really fast! Can anyone catch her!?"**

Standing up from her crouching position, Maribel swung her entire body forward and burst out into a run. The odd amount of energy she felt in her body kept her going, puzzling her as much as it made her happy.

* * *

Todoroki escaped the cloud of fog, there were sounds of metal hitting the ground, oddly satisfying cracking sounds from his ice and yells flying through the air. _If they could fit all of this on the course, I wish they'd prepared something even better. I'll just have to show him in the later rounds..._

But he was in first place, clearing the next twenty meters. The sounds of the crowd behind him and the breaking of steel, the footsteps and everything. The rest of the participants must be trying getting through quick.

Something changed before him. Setting his eyes forty meters in front, he noticed a blonde. Maribel Hearn. The girl set off into a run just after she appeared, just as fast as him, there was no hope in catching up.

 _It's exactly like before, is she playing a joke? No, this must be a plan._

 **"This is becoming a tug of war already, and it's only beginning!"**

The sound of bouncing and footsteps caught up with Todoroki, prompting him to turn his right side around to get a look at what was coming.

"Todoroki!" The high-pitched voice of Mineta lashed out. "Even I can keep up with you, pathetic! Take this! GRAPE RUSH!" He bombastically let out and began to shower Todoroki with the balls that his quirk could generate.

Flinching, Todoroki instinctively created a barrier of ice between them that caught the balls, barely three meters in diameter. There was a smack as Mineta landed on it and bounced off. An effective distraction.

"DARK SHADOW!" Shards of ice were sent flying and there was the sound of Tokoyami, who burst right through. In tandem, Bakugo flew in with a blast and blew both Mineta and Tokoyami to the side. _They were all on my tail?!_ The boy was caught off guard as Katsuki threw him back. Stumbling as he caught his footing again and created a huge wall of ice behind him as a counterattack.

 **"1-A is competing for the second place! Where's the rest of the school?!"**

 **"Just goes to show how far they've come in such a short time. The unfortunate incident at U.S.J. has hardened them, and made them even more determined and stronger. They've seen the world of the pros."**

A resounding boom erupted behind it the wall. Beyond his sight, but he knew who it was. Knowing that Bakugo would get through eventually, he took the little time to conserve some stamina and slowing down to a leisurely run.

 **Boom. Boom. Boom.**

Shouto turned his head to look at what was happening. Right on time, the wall blew open and shards of ice came flying. Out of the hole came the one he was expecting, Bakugo, and in his footsteps Iida. There was a two dozen meter gap between them, but it didn't take much thinking to understand both of them should be able to cross that gap. Briefly setting his eyes back on what was in front, he noticed that Maribel hadn't used her gaps to move forward as she maintained the same gap as before.

Her eyes glanced back, meeting his and forcing him to take them in. As if they were piercing purple dots, it instantly reminded him of something a child would see in a dark corner at night. But on such a person and such a figure, it was extremely contrasted. As a whole, her quirk, her behavior, what happened to her, it was strange. _She's a strange one._

She held clear dominion over the rest of the class in this race. Those gaps might not bestow speed, but they give unparalleled movement. Her stamina at this point would far surpass what she had in the battle trial. He'd heard words of these developments being tossed around and asking the teachers themselves. He was told how she and her quirk had grown in such a short time. The quirk registry was secured by the government, so unless told, he couldn't know if her quirk was the result of being weirdly inherited or mutated. It didn't tick him off in the same way that Midoriya's quirk did, which was similar to All Might's as far as the attacks went. But she gave off the vibe of being an impenetrable wall, a quirk that grew, no baggage on her shoulders and she taunted him to boot. Todoroki was getting irritated.

 _My thoughts are wandering, I'm getting upset over nothing but her taunting._

* * *

Midoriya jumped through the hole in the wall and kept sprinting. He kept a steady run with one of the machine's armor plates held under his arm, not being the strongest or fastest around, but certainly up there when it came to resolve.

 _There's only my classmates- No, some of my classmates and a few other people in the lead. I know that she's doing this, but why us?_ He sheepishly turned his head, as he stared at one of them. Hitoshi Shinso. _A-ah ...And why all the purple haired people?_

Flowing along on his legs almost naturally, Izuku didn't speak and couldn't afford to waste breath on muttering. He went through his memory, voices went in and out of his head, and that of a particular girl came to mind.

 _I met someone from the general department some days ago. Who was it?_

 _On appearance, I would guess he's Hitoshi Shinso of 1-C._

Midoriya realized one thing. _She's taking the people she knows well. Is it because she wants to team up? No, then she wouldn't have brought Kacchan..._

His brain raced. But in the back of his mind, the most significant question was if he could even finish anywhere close to the top of the leaderboard in this race.

* * *

"Die! Four-eyes!" Bakugo smacked the air and retracted his palm in a very short interval, producing a cloud of smoke and a tiny shockwave almost right in Iida's face. Just entering into the curve, Iida used his superior acceleration to swiftly avoid this and keep attacking the corner. Leaning in his run and balancing against the border of the course with his hand. Achieving something that almost resembled drifting as the dirt shifted under his feet. It was hard to grip, but Iida felt like he could go faster like this and pressed on into a higher gear.

 _I have to keep my distance!_ He grit his teeth.

If it wasn't for Maribel though, the initial slowdown from the ice would've cost him and he couldn't be this far ahead. This, despite his overwhelming speed advantage, he was a blinding flash to everyone but her and even she couldn't move as fast as him without using those gaps.

Closing the gap between Todoroki and him, Iida's eyes jumped when Todoroki shifted his head back and created a sheet of ice across the ground. The curve started leveling out, and Iida dodged it narrowly by jumping, sliding across the ice for the first few moments and then running very carefully. He could barely keep himself standing, but his quirk could keep him moving whilst he tried it.

"Hnh!" Bakugo unleashed a larger explosion behind him as the curve ended, jumping from tailing Iida to completely surpassing him. The distance between him and Todoroki vanished and chaos soon erupted. Katsuki attempted to beat Todoroki back with smaller explosions, and in response he would continuously create smaller sheets of ice. The cold and the explosive would both frown at each other and begin an increasingly intense dance where they tried to beat each other back to little success. Katsuki being continuously blown away by his own attacks and bouncing back like a jet fighter for more, constantly.

 **"The competition for the top five is quite intense. Wouldn't you say, Eraserhead?"**

 **"It's quite logical for the most capable to end up there, no doubt their competition would be fierce. They are capable."**

A short glance from Tenya at the fight told him that they weren't serious yet, they weren't looking to devolve the race into a mere fight. Thanks to their fighting, they had to slow down, and Bakugo started breaking away in reaction to this. But it was too late, Iida stepped onto the dirt again and shifted into his highest gear, accelerating hastily and leaving them both in the dust. Their conflict faded from their minds as they set their eyes on Iida, breaking away from each other in a sudden burst.

The ash blonde screamed at him as they both began chasing Iida. "I won't let you get ahead of me!"

 **"Bakugo and Todoroki have stopped fighting to take back the second place from Iida! Will he lose them on the straight!? It's almost like a car race!"**

This was starting to become a straight. Iida didn't need to use clever maneuvering to end up ahead of the people behind him, but both of them could be trouble if they lashed out in a burst and slow him down. Tenya Iida moved his feet faster, breaking out into short leaps between each of his moves. He purposefully avoided resorting to any super move, so he could keep the surprise.

 _If I want to make an impression and make my family proud, I have to leave them-_

His engines lit up, increasing his acceleration further as his gears shifted up. Just like a car would, maintaining a higher speed would become far easier whilst he could accelerate even further.

 _-In the dust!_

"Plus Ultra!" He yelled out and cleared the curve, entering into the straight with the next obstacle just ahead. His sudden increase in speed had quickly bought him ten meters away from the pair behind him, and puts him quickly within five meters of Maribel. He didn't have time to speak, but he shot her a confusing look as he raced by. Letting him pass. When turning his head to look at her, all he saw was a rather charmed expression. But neither of them could bring each other to speak in such a hectic environment or such a short pass.

 **"Iida cuts loose! That's some speed, right there!"**

Abruptly, her head shot to the obstacle ahead and she slowed down. Iida's eyes bolted to the obstacle and he started acting accordingly. Swinging to the right and putting his left leg in front in a short attempt to burn off some of his speed and then leaping onto one of the tightropes. It was an abrupt improvisation, a state of flow. He felt that he could do it. He was good enough at his footwork to try.

* * *

"Go, Iida-ku-!" The blonde yelled out as Iida went first into the obstacle. She wasn't sure if she wanted to finish first or not, but she didn't want to upset him. Following in his footsteps and jumping with the intention of getting to the same platform he was heading to. Just about to cross a gap.

The air whistled, there was a boom and Maribel flinched. Her eyes wandered to the edge of her vision, as if she was attempting to look behind herself. "DIE!"

With a single blow, Bakugo stunned Maribel with his quirk and blew her out toward the ravine. Her body rotated in the air as she began falling, taken off-guard, barely knowing what to do. In a desperate attempt, she gasped and locked her eyes with a ledge. Creating a gap to send her falling again.

She screamed out as she fell, smacking against a ledge and grabbing on before the fall could come again. There, she hung for a bit. It strained a little to keep her grip tight, but it was far less so than she expected.

 **"It might not look like it, but Merry's quite strong."** Eraserhead commented on the situation. _Oh, cut it with all the promotion..._ That he used her nickname was expected, she told everyone who couldn't pronounce it properly to call her that.

 **"You can do it, come on!"** The English teacher followed up, encouraging her to get up. It didn't do anything for her, but the gesture was nice.

Maribel began pulling herself up, hanging on by her elbows as looked around. Briefly scouting the area.

Yelling like always, the explosive boy was just about to go after Iida again. "You can't outrun me here!" He said, but it wasn't long before Iida wasn't there, thanks to Maribel's technique. In a bout of confusion, Bakugo attacked nothing and then reoriented himself. "Wha-... Grah!" He groaned as he understood what just happened.

Maribel heaves herself up from resting on her chest and elbows and slowly turns around, spying on the incoming contestants. Mostly consisting of the rest of her class. By the time she stood straight, the ones behind them had been clearly visible. Mostly consisting of students she hadn't seen anywhere but the cafeteria and Shinso. In one fell swoop, she stretched and used the split moment to move people through gaps, Shinso, the people carrying him, Midoriya, and the slew of her class. In an effort to appear unbiased, she also plucked a few of the front runners, mostly what she would consider cafeteria-goers. They ended up strewn across many the platforms that they had already began moving towards, giving the illusion of movement while attention and cameras were presumably on her.

Her stretch continued a little, giving a vague view of her form as she then swung her arms into a sprinting posture and jumped right into a gap. Allowing her to clear the obstacle in no time.

 **"She's back on track, no one can escape her!"**

Now before her was Iida, who was easily faster than her. But it was nothing she couldn't try to match up to using her quirk. So she went through another, catching up by his side, and another the moment he began to pass her again.

Tenya shot her a somewhat wary, confused and mysteriously safe glance. It was hard finding what he felt in that expression of his. Hers was a little shy as it detached from eye contact quickly. Subtly, a red tint appeared all over her face. She fell behind him very quickly as the butterflies invaded her stomach for a moment. _Why did I want to catch up to him? ...I don't need to._

The lovestruck sensation completely enveloped her unconscious thoughts for a moment, but was forced into dormancy when Bakugo suddenly crossed her eyesight. Their eyes met, his expression fierce, hers took after it. Furrowing her brow, Maribel started to run as fast as she could. Starting to beat Bakugo's bursts of velocity as he alternated between flying with his explosions and sprinting.

 _Why isn't he trying to slow me down? Maybe he realized I can win at any point if I really wanted to. I'm effectively just a spectator, playing with the race as I see fit._

Bakugo spun around, giving her one last angry but confident glare as he blasted off and away with a bigger blast. A split second of thinking led Maribel to feigning his success, whether it actually slowed her down or not. She yelped, put her arms up in front of herself and covered her eyes as she slowed down. Secondly, she started faking her panting, just a little as her run resumed at a slower pace. There were other nearby footsteps, Todoroki had come close again.

"You shouldn't be this far behind. It's a joke."

Maribel deadpanned, she didn't care for this conversation and frankly just didn't want to talk to him. She had definitely counted on the participants finding out, but she needed them to be satisfied with the race. Raising her head and taking a breath in preparation, breaking her bout of 'panting' in the process, she spoke. "This is just a qualifier, getting in first place isn't important. No need to go all out from the beginning."

 _It was a little bit of a lie, it would take a lot less effort just trying to win from the start compared to what she had been doing. And it would reveal less cards, but if she did, the later rounds would obviously be more challenging to her._

He kept his legs on the move much quicker than her. Allowing him to end up side-by-side. She couldn't bring herself to let him stand side by side with her, although she didn't totally understand why. Spontaneously, she swung the flat of her hand onto his shoulder and pushed him away. Causing him to stumble and lose more than a couple of meters of distance. Hearn ran faster as she continued.

Bakugo was in second place, he would no doubt continue going after Iida, and he was fast enough to compete as long as he relied on his large blasts. By no means as fast in a constant run, but in a burst, surely. There was no true reason to let him win, but Maribel felt a nice gesture would make him like her more, and it was also an opportunity to exercise her building hatred for the ash blond boy.

Her eyes heightened in awareness of what they saw, and her ears twitched as they listened in on the surrounding.

Todoroki would be unable to stop her. The only obstacle in her path was Katsuki.

"Mines?" Todoroki said to himself, the the sound of dirt brushing aside filled her ears. Meaning that he was slowing down.

 **"It's a minefield! Made so you can check where they are! These are the ones we use for exercises, they won't hurt anyone! Just beware, they're loud and flashy!"**

 **"Not for everyone."**

As they cleared the final corner to the final obstacle, they were presented with a minefield. Tenya was just about to enter and Bakugo came in tow. His sweaty palms erupted in a giant explosion as he crossed into the minefield, sending him flying above them and creating a cloud of dirt in the way.

 **"In the lead are Iida and Bakugo, some of the fastest in their class! This last stretch will be very exciting!"**

* * *

A bright violet and fiery light washed over Iida all of a sudden. "Hngh!" Bakugo sped past him, using his explosive quirk to land safely in between two mines, and quickly picked up his pace. Iida suddenly fixated himself on Bakugo. breaking his focus momentarily and allow him to step on the wrong step. The dirt below him expanded violently in an explosion, tossing him into the air and leaving Bakugo free to finish the race.

 **"And Bakugo hits it off! Can Iida manage to recover!?"**

Flying through the air and spinning as he did, Iida didn't know what to think. The blast hurt, but it didn't wound or anything. It was nothing but an obstacle. One that he had to overcome somehow. The engines on his legs activated as he spread out his arms out, creating air resistance that would allow him to severely limit his spinning. With the added boost of his quirk, he spun over vertically and landed right in between three mines. Letting out a sigh of relief as he was taken out of the flow. Having to reorient himself to start moving as fast as he did through the minefield again.

 **"He stuck the landing!"** Present Mic yelled out, crowds roaring in response.

Bakugo briefly turned his head to see how he took the rude surprise. He took note of the five-meter gap between the two and throwing his arm back, unleashing a bright flash that put a dead stop to Iida. He was normally mouthy, but it seemed that he didn't want to bring his focus away from the minefield.

 **"A second blast! Bakugo has no mercy!"**

He started coming to terms with the idea of Bakugo winning. It wouldn't be difficult to pass him in such a closed environment. It really played against his strengths.

The shockwave came, the explosion expanded towards him. Blinded by its power, Iida couldn't see what happened as it never reached him. Disappearing as if eaten. Smoke erupted from down under as Bakugo was launched into the air by his own explosion. With restored hope, Tenya put his eyes back on the field, feeling someone take a hold of his arm. Eyes descending, his mind told him unconsciously who it was. Maribel Hearn had covered half of the field only to save him. In part, he liked it, even anticipating it, but he also didn't like it for another reason.

 **"WHAAAAA!? Maribel saves Iida!"** The blond announcer yelled out. His fast-paced commentary a result of the short sequence of events and the climax of the obstacle course.

"Jump!" She yelled out, offering him up a second to react. They both made a leap, added force from their quirks and were swallowed by one of her gaps. Landing at the end of the obstacle.

Bakugo hit the ground.

 **Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.**

The mines exploded like firecrackers.

 **"Bakugo has lost the lead! Amazing team play by Hearn!"** Present Mic roared into the microphone. It seems like he was used to this.

Maribel stopped holding Iida's arm, who rewarded her good will with a thankful, confused glance. She couldn't tell what he felt below that, but she'd have to talk with him when this was over with.

 **"U.A Sports Festival, first-year stage! It seems like the fastest of the bunch made it first, but the trip was action-packed!"**

He started running off, quickly shifting through his gear. He didn't speak a word as he passed through the finish line. Maribel broke into her fastest sprint, not something to sneeze at, but still nothing compared to him. Finishing in second.

 **"And the first one to enter the stadium is... Tenya Iida!"**

The crowd roared out, loudly for them to hear, Iida's face was put on the screens. Tired, he now stood panting.

 **"Second place, Maribel Hearn!"**

She felt satisfied, but strangely disappointed, fearful in the depth of her heart.

* * *

Taking calm steps out onto the arena field and seemingly ignoring all the spectators, she stretched after passing. It was weird, she wasn't even sweating. Putting her hands on her hips and lowering her head, staring at the ground, she wondered. _This has to be Matara's doing._

From the edge of her vision, Tenya walked up. So she turned her head to him, breathing in to return her eyes to normal. Blink. They were golden.

He looked a little disappointed. "Maribel." Her eyes locked with his, not settling on a proper expression just yet, but he didn't look all that angry. "I wanted to win this with my own effort, to show I'm a capable student. I know you told me about this idea before, but did you have to help me?"

She felt a little guilty now. Glancing away from him for a moment before walking up to him, taking a deep breath. "I'll explain it..." She said, close enough to him that nobody else could hear them if they happened to cross the finish line while she was talking. "Since doing so wouldn't break any rules, I used my quirk to give the people I knew best a shot at the next round..." She tried explaining, her voice was a little shaky and Iida didn't seem to budge. "I didn't do it just because of kindness, but because we will be competing. Know your enemy-..." Maribel then pulled away, she looked distraught, covering her face in shame with her palms. When she opened her mouth again, she almost sounded sad, unsure of herself. "...I feel so embarrassed..."

Seconds passed as she started sniveling a little. His expression softened itself. He couldn't bring himself to be so hard on her, especially as he realized something.

"Maribel." He said her name again, less seriously than before, the pronunciation on point compared to many other Japanese. His hand rested on her shoulder. "I didn't mean to make you sad. Just remember that we're all here to do our best." He then took the hand off of her. She removed her hands covering her face and glanced back at him, revealing she had actually started crying a little. Wiping the tears from her eyes.

"...I, uhm ...I will." She looked back into his eyes, turning her sudden solemn expression into a more collected one.

"Right!" He shot up, putting his hands on his waist. "This round was just the key to the next round, that's where we will actually get to show off! Am I correct?!" He enthusiastically lifted the mood, putting two fingers to his glasses and pushing them back. An expression that was meant to indicate smarts, whether he was joking or not.

"...I think so." Maribel's voice recovered from her bout of sadness. "...They usually have a team battle after the first round, right, Iida-kun?"

He nodded, then erratically shifted his arms around, pointing to the middle of the field. "We should get over to Midnight, so she can give us the results!"

And giving him a nod in return, they both strolled off toward the scene in the middle. The arena was quite large. So her eyes had quite the time to wander, finding themselves drawn to a new presence. Vast, unique and hard to pinpoint. She turned her head as she tried finding whatever it was. It wasn't Doremy or Okina. It didn't feel like a god and it was different from a youkai.

On her way to the scene, her head found someone. Walking down the stairs to find a seat, tall, seemingly beautiful and shapely. It was hard to see any detail about her besides the bright colors of her outfit, giving the impression of being a civilian. What stood out the most was the pink hair. The woman's head turned to her from afar, looking right at her, or so it felt.

The woman found a seat and sat down. Maribel shed a drop of sweat, opting to ignore this mysterious figure. If she was even looking at the right person. Her eyes felt drawn to that presence, something that she felt the most of from that person.

* * *

Midoriya Izuku ran as fast as he could, arriving by the minefield a half a minute after Iida had taken first place. All Might would be disappointed, but Midoriya was happy that his friend managed to take first place. Kacchan and Todoroki hadn't passed through yet, so it was still possible to grab the third place. But he needed to think.

Mines erupted without any sequence or pattern as many people tried crossing, class 1-B, 1-A, a few of those purple haired fools. Soon there would be more coming from behind him.

 _Think, think!_

A few people started to recklessly step on the mines, with one of those with purple hair following leisurely behind. The sight confused Midoriya, but he noticed the mines kept tossing people high. Heaving the metallic armor plate forth, he thought.

 _Like Kacchan!_

He dug it right into the ground before him.

* * *

 **"OOOOH! What's that big explosion!?"**

A large, flashy and powerful, yet harmless explosion erupted. The metallic plate Midoriya held allowed him to redirect the force to send him flying where he wished. Tossing him far over the minefield and past Bakugo, who had just recovered from being tossed around by the mines. And Todoroki, who was doing his best to cover the distance. Both of them noticed the explosion, but not who came with it.

 **"Izuku Midoriya takes the lead! Will he end up in third place!?"**

They both broke off from their previous positions and hurried. Midoriya was about to hit the ground just too short of the minefield's end. He tightened his grip and swung around to slam it back into a mine, giving him a final light toss to let him pass. With a dozen meters to cross, Bakugo and Todoroki had to do their best to even have a chance of dealing with this surprise.

Metal made a thud against the dirt as Midoriya pushed himself off of the plate. His body acting on its own as he swung his arms back and forth in pace with his legs, sprinting as fast as he could. He clenched his muscles, briefly enveloping himself in lightning as he sped through the last corridor and passed the finishing line. It almost felt like his bones were shaking, slowly cracking under the pressure of it. The feeling was so energizing, yet painful.

 **"In third place, Midoriya Izuku!"**

After he passed, he stopped and hugged himself. Crying out in pain and crying some tears.

Dangerously close behind him were Todoroki and Bakugo.

 **"Fourth place, Katsuki Bakugo! Fifth place, Shouto Todoroki!"**

* * *

 **I will begin the cavalry race after this.**

 **First, I'll answer some questions that I feel people may have.**

 **Izuku using what is actually full cowl is something he's tried working towards off-screen, Aizawa's words at the end of the U.S.J. incident spurred him a little. But he doesn't have the hang of it and barely knows how to keep it straight. That he managed to pull it out at the end was through his desire to win and frankly, luck.**

 **I made an effort to show that Maribel really likes Iida, and that he does too, just not to the same extent. There haven't been enough opportunities for me to show this. Do keep in mind that I'm still not going to turn that into a central point of the story, and it won't last the further I go into the story.**

 **The person Maribel saw is someone I had intended to introduce later. I feel that showing how there are more Touhou characters around, that aren't hiding in some subspace, would liven up the crossover nature of the story a lot more. This will become way more apparent when the internships start, because that's where the less school-related stuff for Maribel will take prominence and the heroes will also have to deal with it.**

 **Now, as for writing the chapter. I felt that focusing on five different characters and juggling them was difficult, and I think the chapter is kind of lacking in that sense. When it came to the more competitive sections where they tried to slow each other down, I felt that it came across a lot better. I've watched Initial D, so having Iida try and attack corners felt very interesting to me considering that the race features a constant curve until the obstacles come in.**

 **And yes, Maribel made this race harder on herself so she could feel secure in the later ones and wouldn't be surprised. Was her emotions after the end genuine or no, though? Up to interpretation.**

 **Leave a review if you see anything that needs fixing, or if you have any ideas, I'm very open as long as it's well reasoned.**


	21. Chapter 19: Cavalry Battle

**This chapter features most of the Cavalry Battle, but I think that including the finishing confrontation will take up too many words for a single chapter. People don't like to read when there's too much in one go.**

* * *

 **"The second round of the U.A. sports festival first-year stage is..."**

Maribel knew what it would be. But no one else seemed so sure, so she kept an uneasy expression.

 **"A cavalry battle with the top 42 from the qualifier!"**

 _As I was told._ She sighed lowly with relief. The screen displayed exactly what they were going to get.

 **"Those at the top will suffer more. That's what you'll hear when you attend U.A. and that's what 'Plus Ultra' means!"** Midnight announced. She swung her whip down, still clad in the same outfit as before to Maribel's disapproval. **"Tenya Iida, who came first in the qualifier, is awarded ten million points!"** She continued, pointing it right at Iida.

Mostly everyone at least glanced at him, but Maribel didn't. She knew what kind of pressure this stuff could put on someone, she felt it a lot back in Junior High.

There was a pause, until Midnight continued explaining. Pointing her whip at the screen, which promptly began a presentation. **"Now, I will explain the rules of this round. The time limit is fifteen minutes."** An image of All Might, Thirteen and Present Mic appeared, perfectly rendered with transparency so they fit with the background. _So that's how we will be doing this, huh..._

 ** _"_ Each team is worth the total of it's members' points and the riders will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads."** The R-18 hero continued explaining. Maribel wished she would just get it over with. **"Teams will try grabbing each other's headbands until time runs out, and try to keep as many points as they can. Taken headbands must be worn from the neck and up. The more you have, the harder it will be to manage them!"** She then gestures at the schoolkids again. **"Even if you lose all your headbands or fall, you're not out! During this fight, you can use your quirks, but it's still a cavalry battle. You will get a red card for attacks trying to make people fall on purpose and removed immediately!"**

The screen shifted again. **Make your team! 15:00 minutes remaining!**

Maribel looked around as many people seemed to purposefully avoid Iida. She and his eyes meet again, and she smiles. "Hey, Iida-kun, let's make a team!" Iida lifts a linger slowly, but loses his word. "A-..." He puts a finger to his chin. "I'll have to think on it."

Nodding respectfully, the girl couldn't help but to feel a bit disappointed. If she did anything wrong, it would probably be her plan for the first round. "But the offer is there, just ask!" Maribel cheerily replies, turning his expression into a smile and receiving a nod from him. The blonde turns around and walks away from him. _Time to consider some other options..._

She stood still for a little and began to think. It didn't take long for her to notice a couple of people were approaching her. Recognizing them as a few of the other hero class. 1-B hadn't been that visible in this festival yet, but they would probably take their chance now that there wasn't much competition. Rising up and usurping the most dominant class would be a feast for the media. Her golden eyes leveled with the one in front, a guy with blond hair. "Who are you?"

He pointed at himself. "I'm Neito Monoma, of Class 1-B. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. You probably know we declared war on 1-A before this festival, but we're open to making exceptions.

"Well, why make an exception? Is it because of what I said for the pledge?" Maribel crossed her arms, a curious look on her face.

Monoma gestures at her. "You're absolutely correct!"

She spoke earnestly and held a hand out to them, before withdrawing it. "I might consider it, but I'll look around for a little. Just keep a spot open, just in case."

"Heh. Very well." Monoma smiled, dishonestly. The girl then turned and wandered off into the crowd.

* * *

After having brushed off many people asking her by giving them the possibility of teaming up, Maribel ran into one of the people she had an interest in.

"Hey, Shinso-san! You want to join a team with me?!" She yelled out, running on up to him and waving. He looked away very quick, pulling at his uniform's collar, thinking.

"Would that change if you knew my quirk?" He turned to ask with a wooden expression.

Maribel stopped running, instead walking up closer to him. She took a few breaths and looked relieved. "Not at all. I'm comfortable with any quirk, as long as it's useful for the battle. And even without that, as long as there are people that I know on my team. I'd be satisfied."

He looked torn. "You were supposed to be telling me about something after lunch a few weeks ago, right?"

"Oh, right. I forgot." Maribel remembered and stepped in close, speaking lowly and seriously. She put a hand on her chest as she explained. "The Principal wishes me at the top, that way, I'll draw some of the negative press away from U.A. after being the main victim at U.S.J."

He looked intrigued, before sighing. "I'll just tell you right ahead that I'm not fond of the hero course. Even if what you said is true, I'm not so quick to throw away a chance to show off. Remember, a good performance can warrant moving to the hero course..." He steeled his expression.

Maribel though, remained calm. Her head titled to the side, creating an air of friendship. "Don't be so hasty to brush me off. The real fight will happen in the final round. It's always a one-on-one. And if you really want it, I can give you an opportunity to show how capable you are in this round. It's a safe bet. I'm very capable."

His eyes widened a bit and he looked away from her. Considering the offer for a moment. The silence between the two persisted for ten seconds before he responded. "My quirk is brainwashing, activated by answering a question."

Eyes widening, Maribel was interested, even if she was subconsciously creeped out on a small level. "Brainwashing? How come you are in the general studies? That's the kind of quirk that levels the playing field."

Hitoshi crossed his arms, his tired eyes meeting hers directly. "The entrance exam didn't favor my quirk. Brainwashing doesn't work on robots."

There was a pause from her before a burst of irritation. Maribel expressed exactly what she thought. It was just unfair. "Why the hell wouldn't they make the testing more suitable to that kind of quirk? You'd only have to read its name to realize how useful it could be."

"Mhm." He replies, easing his expression.

"Anyway... The question is, how should we structure the team?" She wondered.

Hitoshi Shinso appeared very casual now, given her acceptance of his quirk. Even if he gave off a vibe of being wary. "If you're supposed to be looking good for the media, why not represent the school to go with your pledge? You want to amend our reputation as a whole, after all."

Putting two fingers up to her chin, she made an expression of thought. "We can only have four people, and the majority of those remaining are from the hero course. I suppose we'll need a mix from 1-B and 1-A aside from you and me." Her land slumped down to her hip and she looked back at him. "Are you okay with that?"

"It's fine."

Hearn gestured to the other teams. "I'll go and get someone from 1-A. We should have strength to support us more so than utility. I can already do a lot, and if I had more eyes, there's not much stopping me."

Smiling, Hitoshi replied. "Then I'll be responsible for bringing someone on over from 1-B. We've 13 minutes left, that's plenty of time."

* * *

The figure by the spectator seats watched carefully as the teams formed. Crossing her legs, the pink-haired spectator waited. She wore a bright pink jacket of modern design, two white gloves and a set of loose fit jeans. Her eyes were red, charming to look at. With shoulder-length hair topped off with two Chinese-style double buns on the sides of her head. The figure of hers was that of a young adult with a beautiful shape. Certainly not something that the average woman would be gifted with.

It seemed like she wasn't all that used to her clothing, as she fidgeted around a little bit as she sat and tried to find a comfortable position.

Her eyes wandered the field, interested. _The people of today are unpredictable thanks to this new phenomenon, I never could've guessed what would arise from it all. I don't head out that much, but when I do, I think it's best spent on this. Large events done like this were quite entertaining, and they sell tasty food, too. I do wonder if everything that's been said about this Mae-... Merry is true, though._

 _Everyone has an aura, but humans appear very regular, aside from the strongest of them. I can't feel much of a strange air, but still I can tell that she is irregular. It is a little dissimilar from that of a youkai, despite the humanity it shines with right now. And I can almost feel something more... Something familiar. But I'm confident enough to say she's human, or at least, in part._

 _The race from before didn't really tell her otherwise. She moved like a human with a 'quirk' would. Only through those 'warp gates' of hers or gaps. But she could run for very long without looking tired... And she could most certainly have won at any point if she was being serious. She has no shortage of stamina. All in all, not any special performance, but for the rest of the onlookers it is._

"Wah..." Her expression became tired, and her stomach growled.

Sighing, she looked serious again. They _don't show footage of the entire field, so I won't know if I missed anything. But I won't miss anything in this stadium._

 _I'll keep watching, maybe try to find her after the cavalry battle is over with. I've an old hero license, so I should be able to get down there with total trust. At least they won't think I'm dead, unlike the freeloader I've home. But I'll have to check it before I go down there._ The woman checked her left pocket. _Did I even bring it with me?_

She felt the card, bringing it up before her.

 **Name: Kasen Ibara**

 **\- HERO NAME -**

 **Horned Hermit**

The crimson eyes swiftly read all the information on it. Her name on the card wasn't her true one, but it should line up with their records. She always thought the hero name was a little revealing. It was only chosen for its simplicity, since they didn't accept long and extravagant titles. But it fit her character nonetheless, she very rarely showed up and didn't have a proper office when she conducted work. She did the bare minimum to fulfill the requirements to keep the license, as far as participation went. It also rang true to the hero name. The hermit let out a sigh of relief. Determining that the year, when it was received, was correct. Along with the "birth year" or at least her citizenship's stated birth year.

There were certainly benefits to have one of these licenses. But she wanted to be especially sure nothing was amiss.

She then dug it back into her pocket.

The Horned Hermit held her clenched hand up to her face. Between her fingers were three different sticks, all with their own sweets and edibles on. Dango, candy apple and cotton candy. She licked her lips and chewed down on one piece of dango. _Just because I'm here for other reasons, doesn't mean I won't enjoy a festival._

* * *

"Iida-kun, have you decided yet?"

Iida turned to look at her. "After the last round, I don't think I want to rely on you again. I feel like I only got past everyone since you were so generous. You can't run around without being shown some adversity. But I'll cheer you on, despite having to compete with you."

The wind blew past and tossed her blonde hair into her face. She calmly pulled it out, as her expression shifted in a short time to a satisfied one. "I'm taking after you, then. But I'm going easy on just you."

"Wha-why?" Iida threw his arms down and held them out, in a questioning gesture.

"It's because..." Maribel paused and looked away, blushing as she finally built enough courage to say something. "I like you."

"E-eh..." He blushed in return and nods erratically. "Well, see you during the battle!"

"Mhm. Wish you luck!" Maribel turns around and waves as she walks away. Am I being too blunt? I've been pretty suggestive for a while... Damn it, if I'm going this far, I might as well outright confess after this.

As she walks forward, her arm lowered and her vision centered on what was in front of her. Where she did notice Midoriya approaching. She couldn't help but frown, he did nothing but be a reminder her of weakness. Even if she had heard him being brave at times, he cowered easily in the presence of Bakugo. She supposed the only reason that he wasn't cowering around her was she kept up a facade, he kept trying to nose into her business and her quirk. She hated when anyone did that. Back in Junior High, it was the most guarded secret she had. If she was a 'weird kid' who could never sleep right, nobody would even consider getting close to her. It still happened, but for different reasons. A terrible luck of hers, as she solved the problem so simply in the last year of Junior High.

Izuku's eyes met hers as he got close, which was when he noticed her expression. "H-hey, I was thinking you could t-"

"No." She answered simply and brushed him off, walking in another direction. Midoriya held out a hand as she walked away, almost as if trying to grasp onto a teammate. Iida stopped to look as she left him, and when he turned to look at the one she left behind, Midoriya opted to go up to him. Whatever words they exchanged were lost in the crowd.

The true reason why she didn't want him was because of how he vexed her, he was abnormally pushy. Something she despised from her days in Junior High and especially now considering the state of her quirk. During the battle trial, he was apparently scared of Bakugo at first. Combined with his generally wimpy and weak demeanor aside from a few moments, she couldn't help but dislike it. Feeling like a bad callback. He didn't score high on the physical exam or anything. Was there any reason to have him in her team that someone stronger and greater of will couldn't fill? She had more to say, but having her thoughts run amok like this didn't lead her to a rational conclusion.

Maribel wandered on through the crowds, there were a few standing around that were still looking for teammates. And Maribel could easily see who she might get along with. A good fit for her and Shinso's criteria.

* * *

Shinso came with an unexpected teammate. Jurota of class 1-B had somehow been swayed to his side, through his quirk Brainwash no less.

Meeting him was Maribel Hearn and her classmate, Rikido Sato. "Hey, wasn't that the guy who declared war on the class? And that's one of the 1-B students."

Hearn glanced to him and smiled. Almost like a superpower, it blasted away his doubts. "It's fine, he knows me."

Stepping up to Hearn, Shinso introduced who he was walking with. "This is Jurota Shishida from 1-B. I used my quirk to pick what's most appropriate."

Maribel didn't react adversely, and Sato didn't really know what he was implying. "Is he alright?" Sato looked at Maribel and tilted his head towards Jurota. In comparison to the rest of them, Jurota looked still and unresponsive.

"Trust me. It's nothing to worry about." Hearn titled her head to the side as she looked at her. "Okay, let's form a strategy. Shinso, are you okay with him knowing your quirk?"

Shinso had a wooden expression, his eye bags working only to enhance it. "I'd rather not." He looked at Sato. "But don't fear, I will make it work. And if you look well enough, you'll know what it does."

Sato shed a drop of sweat and shrugged. "As long as it works. I'm doing my part, though! Keeping our reputation in order is why I'm here to help!"

They gathered around and discussed their team strategy.

Maribel would be the rider to maximize her vision. Sato would be in front, as he was one of the most built on the team. Shinso decided to stay in the back, but they agreed he would mostly be the eyes. His quirk would function as a distraction and a secret weapon that they could rely on if they found themselves in a tight spot. Jurota would take position next to Shinso and carry most of Maribel's weight. Which wasn't much in comparison to their muscle power, really. It almost made her embarrassed.

It offered them a great base and made them hard to knock around. Combined with Maribel's range and reaction times, there was little that could surprise them. She only needed eyes in the back, which Shinso would take care of. He was her backup with his quirk.

A team of heavy physical power, a spatially manipulating mobility and two unconventional kinds of attack. They considered themselves ready.

* * *

Principal Nezu really wants her to win, but at the same time, I need Midoriya-shounen at the top. He needs to tell the world that he's here to help them. It's good he started showing some progress with One For All, but I'm unsure if it will be enough. He'll have to pull through this and get rid of his competition along the way.

 **Make Your Team: Time Up!** The screen read. The time for organization was over.

Midnight stretched on the scene. **"It's about time we got started!"**

 **"After fifteen minutes to form teams and make strategy, we've eleven teams lined up for the second round!"** Present Mic gleefully announced. **"NOW! Raise those battle cries! It's time for one of U.A.'s fiercest battles! LIGHT THE SIGNAL FIRE!"**

Maribel coldly analyzed the environment and all of the teams she was faced with. A total of five 1-B teams and five 1-A teams, then there was hers. She held the only mixed team, apparently. Immediately assuming it would give her an advantage, nobody knew Shinso's quirk and Maribel's full set of techniques with her quirk weren't known to many. Sato and Jurota would be known by their respective teams, but not much else. This was a team against team fight, doubtful that anyone would willingly gang up on her team and share information. "Shinso, keep your eyes on anyone approaching. Jurota, you're on guard for anyone behind us. Sato is my frontal backup if my quirk cannot do its job. Remember I will use you to feign, too. When I do, I'll give each of you a clap on the shoulder."

She gestured at the other teams. "We'll target the low-point headbands first, it creates a faction of people with nothing to lose. They'll go for whatever's most easily available, which will be our enemy."

"You aim to exploit chaos?" Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at her, barely supporting any weight as he held the position next to Jurota, who was handling most of her weight. He shied away from looking up too much as he held her by the backside of her leg.

Maribel nodded. "Mhm."

"Got- Got it!..." Sato let out as she explained the strategy. He couldn't really have thought up something like that himself.

 **"Now, let's go! Counting down to the brutal battle royal!"**

"Be calm." Hearn assured her team.

 **"Three!"**

"They won't bother us until I allow it."

 **"Two!"**

Despite that, her team expected the worst.

 **"One!"**

Hearn's eyes turned purple as she narrowed them, taking a deep breath as she did. No need for blinking this time.

 **"Start!"**

The team remained in place as everyone started charging towards their main target. Team Todoroki had the ten million points thanks to Tenya Iida's membership. They would most likely be the target of everyone else, and also hers at one point or another. _I'd never want to remove him from the festival, so I don't have much of a choice other than trying to keep them in the game. But I won't let them with those points, not until the end, anyway. It's best I keep those with quirks I know in all of this, still._

Maribel gathered her thoughts as her eyes raced. Her team had started with five-hundred-eighty points, which was generally high. No chance it would put her at the top. I'm thinking of taking more as insurance, in the case I lose any other. Perhaps it would be stupid of me to run around with too many, people would think I'm a goldmine for points if Todoroki's too tough.

Whilst the action hadn't reached her yet, Maribel takes a look at the biggest competitors from her own opinion. Iida teaming up with Todoroki offered them a great mobility advantage, and combined they and the rest of their teammate were well-suited toward attacking the entire field. Not her forte without revealing some of her cards. The enemy team, ridden by Shouto, abruptly turned and covered their flank with ice. Preventing her from seeing them and the teams Tsunotori, Kodai and Hagakure. No doubt he'd try and grab all of them, but nobody could really challenge him without being faster than him.

 **"Todoroki locks himself in with three other teams! Keep your headbands tight, students!"**

Hearn's team still didn't move and watched as the teams she listed earlier fell to 0 points. Todoroki's jumped 635 points. All displayed on the scoreboard. Sighing, Maribel's purple eyes created a gap just by her eyes. Finely proportioned and controlled, it wouldn't do anything bad to her. Spying through it, she watched the battlefield from above and moved the eye closer. Todoroki had frozen the teams and apparently stunned them, and seemed content in letting his team recover. If Maribel remembered correctly from the usual class banter that occurred over the weeks, Kaminari had a cooldown, as one would call it by video game terminology. It gave him the 'debuff' of mental deficiency. In other words, it would be safe to approach.

 _Todoroki-san only uses his right side to freeze. His left was to heat, right? H_ earn reasoned that a second of exposure to fire wouldn't burn her, in comparison to the ice that would weigh her down. _Joules per second._

Using the gap to spy, Maribel concentrated tremendously to make two independent gaps that were tight under her control. Her hand slung out right next to Todoroki's neck, snatching two headbands out of his hand and disappearing as it came. Her eye saw him turn to react, in surprise, but she pulled her eye away from the gap before long. Both of them closed. Looking at the scoreboard, team Hearn's score increased by 475.

 **"What? Did Todoroki drop two of his headbands?! Wait a minute..."** Present Mic paused to consider and then yelled out. The crowd went wild, but her trick was out. In the background, the sound of crackling ice could be heard as Todoroki made further use of his quirk. Probably isolating himself from his competition, since she wasn't looking.

Eyeing the headbands quickly, Hearn puts them on around her forehead and her eyes reflexively dart toward anything incoming. Nothing in her front. "Team Tetsutetsu, behind us." Shinso reported. Taking her full attention.

"Turn around!" The blonde enthusiastically tells her team, who respond and face the incoming team. The synergy between Sato and Jurota singlehandedly making up their physical mobility. Her head turned to face her new enemy. Approaching within seven meters, one girl whose head consisted of vines reached out in an attempt to attack from a long range. They moved like waves, seemingly struggling to hold themselves up as they crossed the distance. A normal fighter would've considered them decently fast, but the quickest eyes on the field were Hearn's. They crossed about half the distance. Hearn's eyes focused and sent the team far away enough that they were a decent 10 more seconds away from approaching them. Double the distance, the enemy team slowed down for a moment and considered things. Exchanging words, they shifted and the vines moved in to shield them.

In this moment of thought, Maribel interrupted by quite easily severing the vines. Leaving a mass of them right before Tetsutetsu's team, they'd have to waste time to move over them if they wanted to get at her. The team leader yelled at her. "What the hell! Don't think cause you got range that you'll get away from us!" And one of the horses, the one in front, seemingly touched the vines to melt them. Or at least, they softened into some sort of goo. Maribel sneered at this and didn't even try to move away from them.

Her finger slipped forth and used their momentum against them, through a gap. She put her fingers out around the form of the headband and cleanly tore it off. Exerting the least amount of effort possible as she then pulled her hand back out. And quickly rolled it up around her head, putting it on properly. "Hey! Stop messing with us!"

"I'm only reacting to you. You should've gone for someone else!" Maribel shouted back at them and used her quirk to encompass their entire team in a gap. It was quick and disorientating, so when they were shunted to the edge of the battlefield they were quite confused. And soon they found themselves quite involved with the teams that Todoroki had frozen at the start.

 **"I get it now! The miracle girl, MARIBEL HEARN!- Seems to have stolen Todoroki's headband without even being present! That's a CRAZY quirk!"**

Shinso raised his head, taking a little breath. "I think we're set, as long as we don't put ourselves into a compromising situation. I guess it depends on if we want to go for the ten million."

"Do we?" Hearn asked everyone.

Sato shifted a little to support her weight better. "As long as we're capable, why not?"

"Hmm..."

"Merry-san. Team Monoma's coming from behind." Hitoshi Shinso said. All that the team received in turn then was a soft clap on their shoulders. "Turn around." She asked and looked back at the approaching team.

Team Monoma consisted of Monoma himself and a guy that looked somewhat plain and in brown hair. One in dark brown and a guy that was colored a pitch black and with white hair. Not too stand-out, but she'd be on her watch. "Oh, so you can steal too? I guess that's another headline they can make about you!" Monoma yelled out at her, as if trying to goad her into an attack.

Shinso frowned, but his expression was mostly hiding behind the bulk of Sato. Sato himself was on guard and had an arm out, supporting Maribel mostly with his back and amazing core muscles.

"If you're putting it like that, maybe I'll take up the act of Robin Hood." Hearn smiled at him with no actual malice on her face. On the inside though, she was prepared to send him to the far end of the field. "Maybe I'll try and make a good show of every class.

Monoma's team stopped for a moment and he leaned forward. "That'd put your class in the spotlight again for how unusual it is! We at 1-B can't allow that." He talked almost to himself as the one guy in the front blew out from his mouth. It created a whirlpool that created a thin sheet of something. It made it hard to see through it properly. And Monoma forced it to fly forward with a push.

There was no reason to let it come to pass, so Maribel created a gap to force it to move out of the path. As quickly as it came, it flew past her, her eyes lazily following it. Because of this, she noticed the approach of Team Kendo and prepared to move them away. Caught in conjunction with their forced relocation, Monoma ran forward. The short distance and the distraction allowing him to gently nudge her with his finger before Sato brushed him and his team out of the way. Her own arm came into push him away just as his team ran past her. They were slow to stop, but when Hearn turned around, she was ready to boot him away.

Monoma waved his hands before him. "Whoa..." He blinked his blue eyes for a bit. Confused, apparently. Maribel felt something changing from him, but she didn't know exactly what. It wasn't all that familiar. "So this is the kind of quirk you make use of?"

 _..._

 _Kind of quirk I make use of?_

 _Oh, so you can steal too?_

Maribel blinked and her expression became... neutral, she saw the boundaries clear as ever. Monoma's eyes remained a constant, normal blue, though. "H-hey, how do you do your thing?" He asked her, confused. She now understood the consequence of this situation, if he had her quirk, then the possibility of leaking her secrets was also true. She felt an anxiety about it, and on the inside, her expression turned sour and wide-eyed. A building of tension inside of her, she had to get rid of him quickly. But it seemed that he had not, as of yet, been able to make the first breakthrough with it.

Iris and pupil blending together as if she were a mystical creature, her thoughts came fast and clear as day. Jumping between options and lines of thoughts as fast as an electrical signal.

 _WhatdotherulesallowmetodobecauseIcan'tmakehimfalloffbutquirkcanbeusedliberallyandcombatisfreejustdon'tbreakthelawanddon'tmakeanysevereinjuriessoifistrikehimintheheadanddisablehimmomentarilythenhewon'tbeabletokeepusingmyquirkandmysecretanddreamswillbesafeandsowilliaswellandiwon'tfeellikeIusedtodoandicancontinueonwiththiseventandafterwardsiwillestablishmypresenceasadangerousopponentbyrelocalizinghisteamalongwithhimclosertothefrozenparticipantsandthusforcingthemtomakewaroverhisheadband._

Hearn frowned, baring her teeth and swung her upper body to the right. Her arm flew out and hit Monoma in the side of the head and almost knocked him off of his horses. As quickly as she appeared, the gap consumed her again, returning her to her normal position. Maribel had been practicing in not hitting too hard with the help of All Might. If she had done it correctly...

"Eeee-..." Monoma wobbled around on his horse, and almost slumped over.

...He should be a little foggy for a bit. All Might had taught her a little about safely dispatching villains.

Maribel flexed her arm and clenched her fist as she brought it before her. Flicking her head in the direction of Monoma's teammates and delivering them a devilish smile. Then her arm fell to the side in their direction. "Mono-" The one with brown hair in front was about to yell out. The sound of his words never had a chance to reach her entirely as her gap consumed them quickly enough. Removing them from her location and putting them alongside Tetsutetsu and the ones lacking headbands.

Leaning back a little, Maribel toyed with her hair. Which had grown unusually long recently, reaching down just beyond her shoulders. She pulled it back behind her ears to give her better sight. "Ah... I believe I have created a distraction. Let us hope it buys us some time."

 **"Maribel goes for the K.O! We'll bring Recovery Girl on the scene to make a checkup soon enough!"** Present Mic shouts into the microphone like he's done through the entire festival thus far.

"Was that move even legal?" Hitoshi Shinso wondered out loud, he knew that the punishment for making someone fall wasn't in the rules that had been told.

Almost as if they possessed telepathy to hear the whole field, Midnight swung her whip and responded. **"Correct! As long as it's not life-threatening, these moves are safe. This is what heroes deal with, and this is a common occurrence in our exercises!"**

Maribel glanced at Shinso with some very slight suspicion before jerking her head in the direction of Todoroki's ice barrier. Midoriya and Bakugo's teams were trying to get inside of it. She'd have to wait a little to exploit that opportunity.

* * *

After hearing the commotion from Present Mic's side of the announcing, and seeing how his classmate had stolen some of his headbands before he could even lay eyes on them. In response, he used Iida's unmatched speed on foot to move his team away from the three teams he had put close to himself. The follow-up was the use of his glacier to isolate himself from the rest of the battlefield completely. Leaving him alone and away from sight. He had told his team about his current plan.

 _If she can't see me and no one is distracting me, then I'll not only have an easier time seeing when she appears, but I'll be able to deter her by not making it so easy._

She might not be in first place, but she certainly controlled the game. After showcasing how easily she could handle both mobility and attack even on her lonesome, crossing her without being prepared wouldn't do. There were two thorns in his side though, Bakugo and Midoriya's teams were both determined and full of will. Their quirks were strong enough to compete if he couldn't use his with total freedom.

He had positioned himself ten meters from his wall, giving him a decent cover along with a decent distance in case anyone burst through.

 **Boom. Boom.** It resounded as the ice then crackled and burst. Mina used her acid to create a sheet that was then propelled by Bakugo's explosions, burrowing it into the ice with the pressure and quickly creating a large hole through it. "Come here, half-and-half bastard!" The explosive teenager shouted at Todoroki as he came through the ice with his team quick on their feet. As Bakugo came closer, his entire team shifted towards Todoroki's right side, bypassing any possible electric counterattack. He reached out and tried to grasp for Todoroki's headbands, both of which were inverted and made it hard to see which was his.

Todoroki yelled out in the heat of the moment. "Yaoyorozu!" And immediately caught his teammate's attention, her bare arm was raised and quickly protruded a foam-like material. Quickly growing in size, Bakugo met it with his explosive quirk, sending Todoroki's team reeling from the force the material absorbed. None of the heat passed through, making them safe. Yaoyorozu lowered her arm, the foam-like material falling to the ground. It made a loud thud, hardened quickly and broke apart as it hit the ground. Apparently its previous form could only last so long in exposure to air.

"Impact resistant, heat resistant. From the sound of that impact, it must not be very light, either!" Bakugo observed, the two teams entering a standoff.

Todoroki bowed forward just a little and talked to his teammates. "Rotate Kaminari to face them. Be prepared to turn abruptly, Iida-san." And was responded to accordingly, Iida's engines pushed with immense power and the grip on the ground loosened for the team as the team members complied a little. Kaminari now faced Bakugo's team and could be given free range to attack.

Wide-eyed at the mobility of Iida, who seemed to be holding himself back, Bakugo called to his team. "Make some distance!" Followed by his team quickly backtracking away from Todoroki's team. Closer to the wall of ice.

Shouto tapped Iida's shoulder. "Forward!" The man with the glasses yelled to the rest of his team and pushed on. Effectively, his entire team was hanging onto him as he ran. Soon enough, the distance between the teams shrunk to a couple of meters even with Bakugo's movement. The shadow of the glacier covered both of them as Iida stepped to the side, swinging him and his team as they made a brake-turn. Kaminari faced Bakugo's team again.

"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami called out, muffled behind the ice. Neither Todoroki or Bakugo's teams reacted to that, but the breaking of the ice they did. Between them, Midoriya's entire team burst through the ice. Dark Shadow swung to the side, tossing water, slush and ice onto Todoroki's team as Kaminari unleashed his electricity.

Almost none of them had been prepared for this, not even Midoriya, who had assumed Todoroki would be positioned farther out in his fortress. They flew past, the engineered devices of the support department buffering them above the ground to an extent. Creating an even distance between the three teams as all but one of Todoroki's team members were truly and literally shocked. Smoke rose from their bodies temporarily as they spazzed in reaction. Kaminari was quick to notice and stopped using his quirk. "Woah, woah. Shit, I'm sorry!"

This momentary shock, amounting to just a brief instance, was enough to stun his entire team. If not for the sudden entrance of Midoriya, there would surely have been a vicious attack from Bakugo.

But for now, two teams would not cut in. And before they could even consider it, Todoroki's team was back on track. The team leader himself shook his head, irritated. And kept his eyes on the two teams before him. "Midoriya, I got it." Tokoyami said, Dark Shadow rose up to the team leader with a headband in its mouth.

Both the other teams locked their eyes with Midoriya. Checking the headband, Midoriya folded it out and then flipped it after he couldn't see the number. He briefly read it, and it quite clearly wasn't the ten million. "It's not it... But it's better than nothing." He said with a serious face, he was prepared for a fight, quite the contrast compared to his usual self.

Checking the scoreboard, Bakugo barked something to his team and kept his eyes locked on Todoroki. Midoriya looked on over at Bakugo, figuring something.

In both of their minds... _If he hasn't lost the ten million, then there's no reason to switch targets. There might be a fight, but that will be focused on the gold, not the silver!_

"Let's go!" Midoriya yelled out. "Attack!" Bakugo also yelled in a weird unison with his rival. Their teams ready and eager for the fight. Todoroki expression tightened, this was a pinch.

* * *

Above Todoroki, the dreaming girl's upper body popped out, above anyone's normal field of view. Aside from the two charging teams, nobody was aware. And their shifting eyes would be main cause of Todoroki's sudden shift in attention. Her hand appeared through another, swiping just within Todoroki's field of vision. His right hand came towards his left, attempting to stop her.

"Sato!" Her voice reached him just as her hand began moving, they had a plan in place.

"ORA!" Sato's larger hand arrived to smack Todoroki's away, causing a grunt and an immediately withdrawal of Todoroki's hand. Sato's hand ended up being partly encased in a block of ice, but he had enough muscle to weather it, even if he'd lose all sense of touch in it for a bit. Hearn's much more slender and elegant hand slithers itself around the final headband around Todoroki's head.

An oddly satisfying sound is heard as the fasteners between the two ends of the headband were torn from each other. The ten million were hers. His and her hand safely passed through the moving gaps and Maribel herself leaned back through her own before anyone could do anything. Within a slightly longer frame of time, she moved her team inside of Todoroki's fortress of ice and removed all of her headbands from her neck. Her own, two stolen from Todoroki, one from Tetsutetsu and the ten million that belonged more personally to Iida.

 **"WOOOH! That's some nice teamwork!"** **The announcer cheered in tandem with the entire crowd.**

With an unreal dexterity, awarded to her through her excellent reaction time at the moment. Maribel turned all of the headbands in on themselves, hiding their value to any onlooker and put them around her neck. _An excellent idea, Todoroki, I'll borrow it._

For once, Present Mic didn't scream into the microphone to get the crowd interested. This was commentary. **"So, Eraserhead, now that there's three minutes left. What are your thoughts?"**

Eraserhead waited a little bit before speaking his mind. **"Previously, it looked like 1-B wanted to show off in spite of how famous 1-A has become. They were willing to put more things at risk and didn't think carefully about who they were approaching."**

 **"Harsh as ever, Eraserhead! The four-way battle between the previous top performers is some of the most interesting stuff I've gotten to see in the festival! Can Todoroki save himself, or will he be stuck with zero points?!"**

* * *

 **All in all, I think it's difficult to write this battle in particular, but I'll do my best. I don't have the entire battle planned out yet, so give me some ideas if you have any cool that might fit thematically. I do have a few myself, but there's a lot to build on.**

 **And Kasen has finally made her appearance, she will be doing a lot of things. But right now, I think she'll just be here to see, and mingle just a little.**

 **Finally, if you're wondering why Maribel is doing so well these first rounds, it's up to her focusing on mobility. Her quirk is excellent for that, and it's by far her best capability (at the moment anyway). In the cavalry battle, the best offense is speed and the best defense is speed. If no one can catch you or see you incoming, there's little stopping you. Don't worry, I will make things less sided towards her as the festival goes on. Maribel will start hitting her limit with her normal power once the tournament starts, and will have to experiment. Eventually, that stamina (which is not her own, if you've taken the hint) will also have to run out one way or another.**


	22. Chapter 20: Cavalry Battle Finale

All three teams only stared at Maribel, who held her eyes at Todoroki. They skittered between all three of her opposing teams. _Without_ _any points, he'd be desperate for an attack, wouldn't he?_ _Even so, I can see Bakugo making a run for it. Midoriya... He's a bit of a wildcard. He still has points, doesn't generally appear to be too aggressive._

 _If he knows what I can do, then surely he'd like to keep his distance._

The girl took a deep breath.

"Move it! Let's get those ten million!" Bakugo yelled out, his team moved into motions, all with cocky smiles on their faces. The redhead in front yelled out as he pushed on, skin hardening. "Get ready, Hearn-san!"

Maribel frowned as they came running. The two team members on the side using acid and tape to move them along faster than normal, but her aggressive mask didn't betray her relaxed state. Bakugo flew off his horse with a blast, flying on over Sato and almost right up into her face. At the same time, Maribel's body and arm stretched forward after each other, a powerful jab made in reaction and the air whistled. His hands flew to the side the moment he saw her body going into the motion to punch and blew him to the side. Side-stepping her attack in the air. To get close, he moved his arms behind himself again and was just about to fly right into her. Just in time for her purple eyes to catch him in the act, creating a gap to catch him if he so dared to try and fly into her. Forcing him to retreat, not back to his horse, but into the air. His final explosion of this short-lived bout sent him above the scene of combat for the time being.

Her team was too distracted to make any big moves, but Shinso made Jurota rotate the team along with Sato. Whether he knew of his plan or not. Kirishima thus crashed into both Jurota and Sato's sights. It seemed that Kirishima only had intention to take their attention, and thus started struggling with both Jurota and Sato. And Sato, being closer, was forced to deal with him much more. He tried pushing Kirishima away, with mild success, only to be met with a hardened fist. It hurt to be hit by. Jurota wasn't close enough for this to work, but his own effort forced Kirishima to move closer into the front. Where the tangling with Sato turned into a constant short struggles as her main man attempted to lock the opponent down and push him away. But it was hardly successful and repeated itself more than twice.

Sero shot his tape and strung it around Sato's hands, locking him in place for a moment. It immediately began pulling her team close, as Sato was still forced to carry her. "Crap!" The man with the full lips let slip, only to be hit by a punch in the gut. "Goh!" Not as hardened as it should've been, signifying his opponent was holding back. There wasn't much time to react, and Kirishima being in the front had stopped Jurota from helping him. This was the opportune time where Hearn's eyes landed back at the more local conflict, squinting at the trouble and waved her hand in a single motion. For a brief moment, a black streak formed across the tape before being cut off cleanly. Landing right onto Kirishima and instead pulling the enemy team closer together.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry!" Sero apologized.

"Huryah!" Rikido Sato yelled out and pushed Kirishima back, putting a staggering stop to their team as they recoiled. Out of the corner of Maribel's eye, she saw a bright light and made her eerie orbs move their sight to the sky. Keeping a steady poker face in spite of the action. Katsuki came flying down and was just about to pass her with an open palm outstretched. The force behind his explosion was great enough to send him flying past her. He'd have to rebound back to the sky in order not to fall from his horse.

Maribel couldn't even begin thinking about creating a gap as he traveled fast enough for her abnormal reaction time to essentially be nullified. All she could do was let instinct take over, turn to face him as quickly as possible and try and use her arm as an obstacle to deflect him.

It was a hasty move, barely made in time and with mild success. He passed her by, glancing her and bruising both of them a little in the process. With his passage, two of her headbands disappeared and a resounding boom came into existence behind her. Bakugo bounced just before hitting the ground and through a series of blasts landed back down onto the back of Kirishima. Who was done recoiling from team Maribel's conjoined defense. "Ah, you got them!" His redheaded friend let out, the two other teammates kept a watchful eye.

"Of course I would! Dumbass!"

In the heat of the moment, she looked at the scoreboard, which had yet to update. The details didn't matter, but what mattered was she kept the ten million. For her, time almost stood still.

...

...

Whoever was counting the numbers, or whatever algorithm and sensor was, wasn't instant.

...

Her team lost exactly 475 points. Maribel heard whispers tingle her ears, but she couldn't clearly decipher them as she almost spaced out.

 **"Hearn takes a hit! Now without the air of invincibility, will the other teams take their opportunity!?"**

"Todoroki's coming!" Sato called out and her eyes jumped back on target. Iida, who was in front, began to move his legs. She turned her head just as he pushed off, an impressive speed despite having to pull along his team. They moved the entire team to the left, slowing them down a little before accelerating in a line that would let them pass both Bakugo and Maribel.

 _He's attempting to catch both teams, he needs something to keep him in the game. I'll give them that... but not now, I want to tease him a little, make him stressed._ The blonde thought, mischievously and unlike what she would normally think. There was little compassion in her mind at the moment. Wanting to get away, Maribel spontaneously created a gap as she raised her hand, eerie purple eyes briefly flashing as she easily reappeared five meters away from both of their teams. To the right of Bakugo, more specifically.

What she hadn't counted on in these short moments was Midoriya's movements. His team was too close to her left side and moving too. It would seem like they had the wonderful idea of using Bakugo as a distraction.

The rider, Midoriya, turned his widening orbs to her. He didn't expect this, but he'd been ready to act. The team was equipped with support gear that let them glide across the ground, and were passing just by right now. Speedy considering what quirks they had.

Soon, his entire body shined with power, erupting with red shining marks all across his body for a moment. An aura similar to that of All Might. Then his arm lit up and he swung to the side, creating a powerful wind. Maribel was forcefully turned to the side, and though she was quick to start turning back to face him, Midoriya was faster to act. His free hand swung out and grabbed two of her remaining headbands from her neck. The bands rubbing against her throat for a moment before flying away from her and into his hand. Once her eyes had once again landed on him, he and his team passed them and began to turn around.

"Grah!" He yelped for some reason, but what was done is done.

 **"Midoriya makes a lucky snatch!"**

Hearn felt up her neck and her side very quickly. _What..._

 **"He used the air pressure of his punch to distract her. This tenacity and thinking isn't something I often see in students..."**

She looked down and checked her remaining headband. Pulling it out. 580.

 **"Watching them match up against each other is quite..."**

 **"EXCITING!"** Present Mic overtook his coworker. And the crowd yelled out.

Her purple eyes looked back at Izuku, just at the same where his locked with hers. Deterring his gaze. Her heart began to race and her breathing became heavy. Maribel felt humiliated and much angrier than before. And looked back into his eyes, which met briefly.

Without really thinking, the girl created a gap that let most of her upper body pass through. Her rotation made her long hair wave in the wind. Next to the shining Midoriya, she aimed to easily take all of his headbands and leave him angry. There was no one in his team aside from Ochaco that she had any true bond with, and if there was a failure in her plan, she'd readily accept that it was failing to bring him into the third round.

Reacting in stress and on previous observation, he acted as if he knew where she was all along. Midoriya swung his fist around like a barbarian and with little technique put into it, shining with the bone-breaking power of One for All, as if his skin was filled with power. The curled up hand landed right in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her easily. At the same time, he groaned and held his hand. "Grrngh..."

Stunned, Maribel couldn't quite respond, and for a moment she saw black images flying all around her. "K-k-ah-..."

 _Oh, you finally returned to the drea-_ A voice whispered through her head, but was immediately cut off.

Her stressful mind stopped hallucinating as she was socked in the left side of the head, and shortly thereafter her last headband disappeared. "GRYAH!" He screamed, in both pain and exertion. She felt an intense pain coursing through her body, although it was still far from the worst blow she'd ever suffered.

"Uraraka-san! Hatsume-san! We need distance!" She heard ringing through her mind.

 **"Two minutes left!"**

Maribel didn't act. Falling back through her gap and almost slumped over Sato and held her head, closing her eyes. She wasn't hit in the same place as last time, or even close to as violent, but it hurt. And it reminded her. She couldn't act. All she could do was think to herself.

* * *

All of this only reminded her of her past vulnerability. Her weakness and poor decision making. Before her quirk started to act up, at the age of 10, she led a normal life with a peculiar yet largely useless quirk.

The 'real' dreams began and took over her life. For someone at that age, being forced to live with constantly vivid, yet life-like nightmares every night would be quite terrifying and scarring. It led to bad sleep and by extension, depression. Maribel hardly understood how exactly it made everything into what it was. But it was then she started becoming withdrawn, shy and a prime target for the popular girls in class to pick on. Those who had decent or flashy quirks, money, an easy life and lots of friends with no threat of bullying. Human nature it might be, she hated them still. Most of everyone ignored her and her grades plummeted despite the aid of her best friend. She was perfectly capable of holding a conversation and reacting to queues, but the introversion all of this bestowed rejected her from most people.

Through it all, Renko remained her best friend and did her best to help her. The moments with her were the happiest, and Maribel felt fine telling her about the dreams. But for every time she tried to help and rebuild Maribel's confidence and help her with schoolwork, she felt more and more inadequacy.

Frustration born from both of these factors did nothing to help her. And eventually she retreated to her room quite often instead of going to school, spending the day sobbing and crying. What help her parents gave her didn't help much. She was almost completely broken. The thing that saved her was ironically...

Her quirk. Perhaps it had matured, or perhaps a changing state of mind had wrought it. That's what she personally wants to believe, it makes her feel better about herself. Boundary Manipulation was the true ability of her quirk. A powerful, versatile tool. A warp gate quirk, one of the rarest kinds of quirks. Perfectly controllable. In tandem, the nightmares began ceasing, turning into more peaceful dreams and even into the usual things she hadn't experienced since she was young. And with the help of Renko's comforting and reasoning, she found herself increasingly hopeful in dealing with the 'real' dreams. Maribel knew it was because she became much more accepting of advice.

The girl became popular. A quirk capable of creating warp gates was extremely rare, there wasn't even a hero in Japan with one and very few in the world. Everyone told her to become a hero. Everyone wanted to know her. And of course, with such potential, everyone would want to be her friend in case she found success.

There was only one year left in Junior High, a year that she'd dedicate toward making things right for herself. She would have many 'friends' and acquaintances. Talk as much as she wanted. No one would ever pick on her again. Maribel was extremely self-conscious and made sure nobody would get such an opportunity. Once she knew what the class liked to talk about, she flowed easily between cliques and people. It was what Hearn had wanted for so long. The only people she truly rejected were the popular girls, they were all so quick to turn, but she wasn't quick to forgive.

But despite all of this, the boys who liked her, the parties she went to with classmates and the after-school shenanigans. None of it made her feel the way it felt to be with Renko. Maybe it was their shared interests and emotions, their far more personal history and the fact that Maribel entrusted Renko with her most valued secret.

Moving to U.A. was more difficult than she had expected. She just didn't know the people, their preferred conversation or their ambitions. The school wasn't local. They barely met after it was all over for the day and her quirk wasn't so special among the presence of Todoroki, Bakugo and so on. Even if despite this she managed to make some friends, she just couldn't feel satisfied.

Maribel just couldn't, her quirk worried her too much to feel safe in this new environment. Acting strangely since the entrance exam, forcing her into bouts of mania, delirium, malice and more at seemingly random. At home, she felt like she just wanted to be angry at times. Maribel couldn't explain it to herself, but it was like her quirk had a personality of its own. Focus was something the quirk did by itself, giving her terrifying eyes and wrestling her control of the aforementioned bouts. It made her stick out in ways that she absolutely abhorred. Worrying her father, making her look like a fool in front of her classmates at times. Making her act irrationally during combat. All it did was remind her of the old days, and she didn't like it, even if it made her much more valuable in a fight at times.

The cherry on top of all of this was USJ, after being struck by Noumu she often relived the experience, sometimes at random and sometimes in a similar situation. Its name, pain in the forehead and so on. Maribel could only describe it as post-traumatic stress disorder. She felt it in her mind, those agonizing seconds were burned into her memory. Fear and helplessness. The only help she'd found was... Her quirk, especially when it was focused like it was now. Anger is what she felt.

Having Midoriya, Todoroki and Bakugo before her couldn't help but make her project her previous issues onto them. What she hated most about herself was having these flaws on her mind, an issue they only exacerbated.

She hated cowering, and despite his bursts of courage the messily haired boy kept doing it and did little to help his image. Good conversation, confidence and a constantly outgoing, yet flexible personality would win him more favors than acting like a hero whenever someone seemed to have it tough. Helping to uplift ones mood is far easier and more comfortable than helping someone's issue directly, because such a mood could solve it with little risk and effort. He kept nosing into hers, like a reckless and inexperienced pilot, as if he actually understood any of it.

She hated isolation. Something that Todoroki displayed much of, his attitude made it clear that he wasn't making friends and he only talked to her to know her secrets. She didn't know what he sought in it, but it'd only bring him more irritation. What makes people truly happy is other people, and obsessing over defeating her or someone else isn't going to win him any favors in public. He needs more than that to find satisfaction.

And finally she hated being clawed at by someone egotistical and rabid, Bakugo could scarcely take hurt without bursting and always sought to protect his status. He didn't try and elevate anyone along with him using his knowledge and intuition. He's nothing like Renko. He's doing almost the exact same thing the girls used to do at her school.

All the while, she hated the attention the media had wrought her. She didn't want to be famous, or a celebrity, she wanted a happy and calm life with many friends. Not to be extremely valued because of money, her weird feats or publicity, but because of her personality.

At least, that's what she felt.

* * *

Opening her eyes, Maribel straightened out. Eyes wide and gaze unfocused as she clenched her fists, seething with rage and irritation.

 _I don't know what to think, I almost want to kill something. I don't care._

"Merry?"

Maribel turned her head to look at Shinso with a torn expression.

"We're short on time, do you want to win or lose? Because I didn't come here for the former. I joined with you because I believed you were capable." Shinso calmly and seriously told her.

Maribel took a deep, calming breath. "...I AM!" She shouted angrily and turned around to look back in front. The enemy team was just putting on the headbands they had stolen. Pulling her hair back behind her ears and letting it flow through the air. "I definitely AM!"

"They can't stop me...!" The blonde clenched her teeth, looking the most serious she had been in a while. A single drop of blood ran down the side of her chin, indicating the damage the bearer of One for All had made. "MIDORIYA!"

Izuku's eyes widened as he heard her. She had changed character quite a bit in a few seconds, and he couldn't help but think he did something wrong. In the little time he had to think, he couldn't help but notice she relied mostly on herself in this battle. It was logical, of course. Her versatility could make up for everyone else.

"Let's go, everyone!" Midoriya threw his hand forward and his team began to move back as quickly as they could, gliding as they did. The mechanical assistance that Mei had given them made their acceleration almost unmatched. They made sure to make a turn to the right, so they could avoid Todoroki and Bakugo.

Maribel lowered her head a little and shouted again, tapping Sato on the shoulder quite clearly. The team's feet got into motion. "Forward!" And then turned her hand into a blur, disappearing into a gap swiftly and hitting Izuku in the face with a mighty backhand. Breaking any kind of focus, he might've had, her strength was already impressive without outright punching anyone. Moving the gap in tandem with Midoriya's team, her hand spun around elegantly and tore off all of his headbands. Then her arm shot back through the gap before he could respond and gently held them up before her.

 **"And an immediate comeback."** Eraserhead noted.

"STOP!" She yelled to her team. Staring at Izuku, who now had a bleeding nose. The little blood that running down the side of her head and her youkai eyes were quite intimidating, even if she wasn't being looked in the eye. Maribel checked through the headbands he carried, easily finding the winning number. Ten million.

Maribel drew it out with her right hand and raised the hand with all the other headbands into the air. "Here are your pity points. Midoriya." She said with venom. To which the entire enemy team was puzzled.

A pause made the tension between Bakugo and Todoroki in the background all the more noticeable. The two teams finished up and broke off, leaving Todoroki with one headband. Outside of the other two team's attention.

The blonde let all the headbands in her left hand fly with the wind, journeying through the air and landing on the ground.

"What the hell!?" Ochaco let out.

Midoriya was dumbfounded at what she did. Bending forwards with a gaping mouth. "Why!?"

"The hell are you doing, Merry!?" Sato asked out loud.

Supporting her statement came her other teammate. Whilst Jurota remained oddly silent. "I'd ask the same."

The entire stadium was roused by this strange course of action. **"Oh... This isn't what I expected! Maribel lets go of the points- but will the other teams take their eyes off of her for them?!"**

Maribel didn't care what anyone thought. This was a good way of justifying her plan. She wanted all four teams in the fight, no matter what she thought about them. "Todoroki's team will be approaching. Get ready." She ignored the cries of her team, moving them ten meters away from the ongoing action. Both Midoriya and Todoroki would approach, but thanks to Iida. She knew what would be coming first.

 **"Oh, one minute left!"**

The enemy team approached fast, snatching two headbands from the ones that were still settling on the ground. Passing Izuku without much of a care, who seemed reluctant to approach.

Her eyes fell on Iida in front, and their eyes met for once. He looked so confident, and she loved it, truly. And for once, it didn't seem like he had to look away. Maribel held a hand in front of her eyes, still glowing. She smiled happily and wiped away the blood that had run down the side of her face. The bruise had dried.

"Todoroki, you won't be able to use me after this, so I'm counting on you! Be ready!" Iida's exhausts suddenly flared with fire as he kept running. His constant work with his legs offered enough warmth to power his engine up.

"What do you mean, Iida?" Todoroki trusted his teammate's words and held his hands up in readiness.

The flame turned blue as he flew across the distance, accelerating at an impressive pace. Even Maribel's eyes had trouble keeping up, but he did not become a blur to her as he did to everyone else. Twenty meters easily crossed in a second. "Torque over- RECIPROBURST!" He yelled. Within that time, they had an arms reach, and Todoroki really tried to aim for her only headband.

As if to show off just how quick she was, Maribel turned her head to meet Todoroki's as they flew past. Something Todoroki noticed, but had no time to put into expression. His hand came and passed through, her upper body had gone through a gap that quickly moved away to reveal her again. Making their pass ultimately pointless. She used her quirk to reorient the team to face Todoroki's.

Todoroki clasped for nothing in his hand and turned to face Maribel, stunned.

 **"Quick on their feet, but what kind of drawback could it have?"** Eraserhead vaguely implied a weakness to Iida's ability. It was something he'd say to make people think.

"Believe what I'm saying, that speed holds a candle to All Might! Good going, Iida-kun!" She cheerily told him. Lightening the tension and making his face drip with sweat as he looked at her, confused, if anything.

"Ehm... Todoroki-san, I've exhausted myself. I can't move." To which Todoroki only nodded.

Maribel chimed in. "I've decided I've no reason to fight anymore. As long as the other teams are constrained to their horses, they will never hit me." And Todoroki couldn't help but agree, the team before her couldn't do anything but hopelessly watch. "You'd need a better trick than just speed."

 _Bakugo isn't distracted, he'll surely come over here within the seconds. And if he wants to make effective combat with me, he knows that he can't stay on his horse. It's too immobile._ Maribel thought to herself. "Shinso, tell me if anyone's coming." She said, creating a border space high in the air. Two meters in a radius and six deep, but it filled exceptionally quickly. The two entry and exit points contracted quickly.

"Now."

Her focus remained steady as she began to look behind her. Bakugo shot off his horse with a loud explosion, uncaring that both Shinso and her had glanced back at her. He flew toward her, quickly.

 **Fyuuuuush. Pwop.** The high-pitched sound of air flooding in stopped, something that could barely be heard in this open stadium.

Bakugo came closer. "Stop hogging the winning ticket!" He yelled at her. Within a second, she had moved one end of her border space right behind her. Creating a weird image of the sky to cover the back of her team. He wasn't prepared for this in particular as a gust of wind was released. Nullifying his momentum and sending him flying back. He managed to catch himself once he'd flown far into the air and blew himself back onto his horse, landing with the help of Sero's tape. They all rode toward her as quickly as they could though, once again, Sero and Mina's combined quirks gave them increased mobility.

 **"Did Bakugo blast himself away too soon?!"**

 **"No, that's one of her super moves. Double Boundary, she used it to save me a lot of trouble at USJ."**

"...Shinso, Bakugo's yours." She said, which seemed to please him. At first, Maribel looked back at Todoroki and his team, who didn't seem to be doing anything. They couldn't move, so why would they? Their range was limited, unlike hers.

Looking back, Shinso put on an aggressive face. "The time's up! You'd been better off going for the points lying around!"

"Uh..." Sero let out, stopping. So did Mina, although she couldn't even hear her saying anything.

"As if-!..." Kirishima shouted out. Body freezing in place as best it could while carrying Bakugo.

"Who do yo-!..." Bakugo blasted explosions from his hands as a way of intimidating those he approached. The constant sound it created wasn't the most welcoming, after all. But it did not stop Shinso's quirk, Bakugo stopped dead. His entire team was under his spell, and Midoriya was too far away.

Maribel took a calming breath. Looking at the scoreboard. There wasn't enough time to do something meaningful anymore. She estimated roughly ten seconds.

 **"Wha-wha-wha?! Bakugo's team just stopped! This isn't her quirk, is it?!"**

 **"No... It isn't."** Eraserhead commented, sounding more curious than she'd ever heard him.

 **"Anyway, time's just about up! Start the countdown!"**

Maribel glanced at the countdown, and then at the scoreboard. The first four teams would get to enter the third round.

 **First Place - Team Hearn - 10,000,000 points.**

 **Second Place - Team Todoroki - 1235**

 **Third Place - Team Midoriya - 980**

 **Fourth Place - Team Bakugo - 965**

 **Sixth Place - Team Kendo - 665**

 **Sixth Place - Team Tetstetsu - 320**

7... 6... 5... 4... 3.. 2... 1...

 **"Time's up! That's the end of the Cavalry Battle, the second round!"**

* * *

 **"Now, let's take a look at our top four teams right away!"**

 **"In first place, Team Hearn!"**

Shinso smiled almost wickedly. Maribel was satisfied for the moment and a wonderfully warm smirk spread across her face. Sato made a sigh of relief. And Jurota just stood there. His participation was mainly to hold weight and give a strong base to the team, surely he'd be disappointed if he remembers anything of the battle.

They broke up their formation and stood by each other. Maribel took off the ten million point headband that she had on her head and held it out to the rest of them. Shinso undid his brainwashing, and Jurota started moving. He was utterly confused, disoriented even, to which Sato came to help him.

"We won the battle. You okay?" The big-lipped man asked his fellow student, putting two hands on his shoulders as if to help him stand.

"...Ah, where am I?" He asked, looking tired.

Shinso turned to Maribel. "Thanks for having me and thanks for the win." He said and walked away towards one of the exits. Maribel had waved him off happily before he left.

Sato and Jurota talked for a moment, seeming to get along well. "What? You don't remember any of it!?"

"This guy went up to me, introduced himself. Hitoshi Shinso. And then asked me if I wanted to join his team, I let out a single syllable and then I was here."

"That's like some mind control. So you had to join us against your will?"

"Indeed, you're right!"

"He seemed off to me when we teamed up, that bastard... It's like he's a villain or something."

Maribel didn't care if her team ended up breaking apart at the end. At least she knew she wouldn't get the blame. And Shinso would be satisfied like this, he had made it to the final round of the most watched event in Japan. If he used his quirk again in a one-on-one, it'd definitely catch some interest.

* * *

 **"In second place, Team Todoroki!"**

"If she was serious about winning, she would stay with her points. I guess she wanted to make a big impression by making it difficult for herself." Todoroki talked to himself. Then muttering. "Damn... I'll show my old man in the next round, now that I know more of her tricks."

Yaoyorozu responded leisurely. "She said the principal wanted her to win. Merry must be taking that very seriously. Still, we were on the verge of losing there. Why did she let go of all those points?"

Tenya almost spaced out and then looked over at Maribel's team. The girl standing confidently and putting her arms under her bust as she waited for the announcing to be all over with. Her eyes too, wandered, and now they were golden. He twitched his arms erratically up and down as he voiced his opinion. "I think she wanted us to win." Pausing and then speaking a little more loudly. "Merry is my friend, after all!"

Shaking his head, Kaminari looked around, moving closer to Iida. "She seems pretty into you, though." He said, to which Iida ignored with a very slight flush on his face.

Clenching his fist, Todoroki explained his own reasoning behind her behavior. "She must've wanted us to win, yes. Merry knows our quirks better than she does class 1-B after all. And she's bound to have more tricks that we can't deal with."

* * *

 **"In third place, Team Midoriya!"**

"I don't know what made her react like that, but she became way more aggressive after you hit her, Deku." Ochaco explained. "Granted, I did see her being a little violent at USJ. But it's just a little weird."

"Now that you say it, after I hit her in the head... I guess that's a bit of a dirty move." Midoriya wiped the blood away pouring from his nose. Maybe I deserve this.

Tokoyami stood with arms crossed and chimed in a few words. "She was a bit like that at the trial of battle, too. Not as much, though. Maybe the fighting just fires her up."

"Let me take my babies off of you Midoriya-san! I think we did quite well with them, though there's still room for improvement!" Mei chimed in and came upon Midoriya.

"Hey-hey, Hatsume-san...!" He let out as she invaded his personal space without any permission and tore off the gear he was wearing. Leaving him with just the U.A. gym outfit.

* * *

 **"In fourth place, Team Bakugo!"**

Bakugo slammed his fist into the ground hard and unleashed an explosion big enough to create a large dust cloud. It made him fall onto his back. He rolled onto his chest and began to smack his fist into the ground. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I knew she'd be a huge pain in the ass, but with that half-and-half bastard in the way...!" He ranted and then screamed at the top of his lungs. "WATCH YOURSELF IN THE NEXT ROUND, BITCH! I'LL GET YOU, AND NO AMOUNT OF WARP GATES ARE STOPPING ME! I'LL LEAVE A _GAP_ IN YOU THIS TIME!"

"I don't really think we had the chance for first place, but we did our best." Sero shrugged. He then smiled and looked at his other two teammates. "At least we won."

"Bakugo's probably not going to agree, but after seeing Hearn in action, I can't really disagree. I'd say that all of our teams here in 1-A had some pretty nice teamwork, though! We were all so... manly..." Kirishima responded, wiping his eyes with his knuckle.

"We've got another round ahead, so if we get some easy opponents, it's a good time to show off! What happened during those last seconds though? I just kind of lost my memory." Mna asked.

* * *

"He did it!" All Might told himself and looked down at Izuku. _He was very close to knocking Hearn out of the game and was caught in multiple impressive performances. Looks like he's able to control his quirk a little too. If he's come this far, I think it's quite possible he can finally show the world that he's here... The future symbol of peace!_

He smiled, and Izuku looked up at him. Joining in revelry once again.

* * *

A pair of girls sat together on one of the rows. Brown hair and reseda green hair, purple and green eyes. "She's using master's power to keep going, right?" Mai Tereida asked, one of the backup dancers that served Okina.

"We're not making her stronger, so yes. That power is just for stamina at the moment. If she used the trick I taught her, she'll find more use of it." Satono responded. Both of them wore modern and very casual clothing, so they didn't stand out. Not to anyone but one of the other spectators.

* * *

Kasen clapped and smiled. "What a show." She said to herself. Staring over at the two dancers who were sitting almost an entire kilometer away. _And why are they here? I don't suppose it's strange someone like her would take interest..._

 _It didn't seem like anything strange occurred with her over the course of the fight. That aura just became more vicious and youkai-like by the second, it might just be the effect of a 'quirk' that's causing it. Either way, I think I'd learn more if I met her. I think I'll just have to avoid running into too many other heroes in the halls._

The famed Ibaraki, whom none knew the identity of at the moment, stood up and walked away. Joining together with the crowd of people as she walked down and outside of the arena.

* * *

 **I am far more satisfied with this chapter than the last one. Though I do wish I had the dedication to make the strategy more intricate, but I think including literally everything happening between the main four would just clutter the chapter.**

 **Maribel's character is now more open, despite what she thinks, she also acts a lot spontaneously. She doesn't think consciously about making friends a lot of the time and isn't a keikaku master at it, comes naturally most of the time.**

 **Shinso rolled with Maribel in large part because she was very friendly, and had no issue putting his quirk aside, even agreeing with him on his issue. He's still pretty torn on her though. He'll focus on his usual agenda once he enters the next round, and I think I'll give him a bit of a break so he actually gets somewhere.**

 **And there'll be some background tension going on before we get into the final round, and I hope I'll have more fun writing this last act. My plans (the ones I keep in my head anyway) feel way more concrete than they've been for the rest of the sports festival.**


	23. Chapter 21: Intermission

**Reminder not to put any links from cheap bot accounts in your search bar. I had one private message me just recently for no reason.**

* * *

 **"The event will be after an hour's lunch break! See you then!"**

There was a pause. Nothing came from the amplifiers that allowed the sound to travel over the entire stadium.

 **"...Hey, Eraserhead, let's go grab some food."**

 **"Well, it is lunch break..."**

Maribel felt she'd had enough time in the spotlight for now. She put her arm just above her head, her long hair waving in the wind of the open stadium as she looked up at the sun.

Daylight, the day, it irritated her. She couldn't help but flinch, not in response to the light, but the day itself. It was hard to understand this feeling, she couldn't even describe it. Only when night did approach, she felt normal, and when the sun went down, she felt alive. Under the light of the moon, and especially the full moon, she had always felt extremely energetic. It was unlike anyone else she'd ever met, even when she was a wreck, she got up to look at it. Those nights were the most exciting for her, and she didn't know why.

"...A youkai." She muttered lowly to herself. _That's what Doremy called me. Beyond the books, what is it, really?_

Hearn looked back down at the ground and took a breath. Then she looked over at Sato and Jurota, the two members of her team that were left. "You might not remember it, Jurota-san. But thanks for participating."

He looked over at her and started speaking a little brashly. "...You're Hearn-san, right? I don't have anything against you, but I didn't really know if I got to show off or not. This festival's a big opportunity, you know?"

Hearn put one leg before the other and squeezed her chin between her thumb and index finger. "My pledge was to restore the school's reputation. Want to know why?"

Her teammate from class 1-A stood and watched. Hearn immediately assumed he wanted to exit with her, which would be natural. "Surely. Do tell." Jurota asked, crossing his furry arms.

"Principal Nezu asked me to perform at the top. A good performance from the school, from someone's who has been a big point in the media's criticism of U.A, will make things easier for him..."

"Al-"

"The next question is. Why would this work?"

"You would be at the top, of course. Everyone watches the top."

"Yes. The big companies watch the top. The mass media watches the top. It is attractive to be in the top, and now you're there too. This is the last round."

Jurota looked her in the eye, his glasses reflecting her image in them. Golden eyes, that made her at ease. "This is a better opportunity than the last round?"

"Precisely." Hearn bounced on her feet a little and clapped her hands together. Looking satisfied.

The man from 1-B shrugged. "You're right. But I'll have to think on this, it just doesn't feel like I came here by doing anything myself."

"You played a role, even if you don't remember." Maribel smiled. "That is enough, and I hope you can appreciate that."

He smiled back at her and walked away to the gathering of 1-B. Seemed like both classes wanted to gather before making their way to the exit. "I guess I'll keep that in mind."

Sato looked down at Hearn and asked quite curiously. "So what was that all about?"

Looking on over at Sato, she held her arms out in front, around her chest area to grab his attention and make her words more appealing. "My intuition told me he felt like giving up the final round. Not only do I think he'd be doing himself a disservice, but... I don't want any more wildcards showing up in the last round."

"Ah, that's smart. Well, let's go and get some lunch." He raised his hand over his shoulder and pointed back with his thumb.

She agreed, and they both walked away toward the rest of their class. Maribel only had one person her mind though, but her thoughts were a little bit wild after all the action. Her decision was to take it a little easy. They joined the train of classmates, and soon enough, 1-B did too. Maribel purposefully went to find Iida, making her way past those who may be glaring at her to do so without much care.

"How's it, Iida-kun?" She started talking, a very calm and confident voice at first. Iida shifted his head a little, not looking at her at first. "Sorry if I happened to play like that in the first round... I got serious in the second, and it feels like I went a little overboard, too." She finished, mild regret in her voice now. There was no need to apologize as strongly again, after all. He took a little step to the side and looked over his shoulder at her, letting her take his side.

"I'm alright." He gestured to himself. "And it's okay, don't let anyone hold you back."

She held one hand out in his direction as she spoke. Relatively close to her body. Their eyes met and both of them smiled, Maribel felt calm. "You were really fast too. Recipro Burst, huh? I'm honest when I say that you were almost as quick as All Might."

"Ah, well, thank you!" He rubbed the back of his head a little robotically. Silly, but she couldn't help but like it. "...I felt like I had to show how good I am, be a rival. To you, to Midoriya and the rest."

"The next round's always a one versus one, it's an even better opportunity for an attempt at rivalry. I hope you aren't immediately put up against me, though."

"You're aiming for the top, right?"

She smiled coyly and shrugged a little.

* * *

Candy apples and spun sugar twirled between her fingertips as she walked around. Seemingly unassuming eyes were stalking for two people in particular, and once they found them, weren't afraid to approach. It was in a crowd, so they all hid in plain sight. There was no chance anyone could really get a drop on her, even without those factors.

"You two."

The two dancers turned around, it seemed like they were enjoying themselves at the fair, appearing inconspicuous. "Ah- AH!" The green-haired of the pair jumped a little whilst the other, brunette, tilted her head in confusion.

Kasen Ibara, also known as Kasen Ibaraki, adjusted her jacket and stared down at the two. "Maribel Hearn." Was her simple statement. The rather imposing hermit crossed her arms. "Your master expresses an interest in her. Why?"

Satono was the first to talk. One word first, then a pause as something came to her mind. "Well-... We've been told to come, so we could take a look at that girl, she resurrected from a deadly injury! Crazy."

The hermit's stern expression remained stern, raising both of her eyebrows.

"That's why you're here too, isn't iiiiit?" Satono drew out the last word, she was playing a little dumb. The red-eyed woman wasn't really fooled by this, but she understood that insisting on answers wouldn't give her anything.

"You're not wrong..." Kasen replied, sounding defeated. "But don't try anything. I've had misfortune of knowing her. Your master won't surprise me." She spoke clearly and then turned around, wandering back toward the arena.

Both the dancers looked at each other and then back at Kasen. A hint of distress spread upon their faces.

* * *

Iida and Maribel had decided to spend the lunch break together, relaxing. She made an effort to avoid making it feel all too intimate, since that embarrassed her and had only suggested going to get some drinks together. He had initially intended to go do it alone, he needed orange juice to fuel his quirk apparently. But she took advantage of this.

And while she wasn't as enthusiastic about buying a drink, she bought one soda for herself. A tasteful one, one sip was enough to keep her satisfied for at least thirty seconds. So she could afford the ability to drag any conversation whilst Iida drank his cans a lot quicker than she did her own.

"The difference between a normal person's eyes and his are that when my eyes become this indigo color, and my quirk is focused..." She playfully formed a circle around her right eye with her thumb and index finger. "He becomes just a blur. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I had a hard time seeing you when you were moving." She continued, swinging her hand across the empty air as fast as she could without exerting herself.

Iida nodded and smiled brightly. "You know, I'm surprised that you think so highly of me! Thank you very much!" He bowed a little. Maribel couldn't help but wave this praise off a little.

"Hehe..." She giggled and held a hand up to cover her mouth. He looked at her a little surprised. "There's no need to thank me like that! Come on, we're friends."

"Well, I'm sorry!" He replied to her ironically and rubbed the back of his head.

"You don't need to apologize either!"

"I'm kidding." He held up his hands, snickering all the while. There was a bit of fun in the air. "But I'm really wondering, why did you become so angry at the end?"

Maribel paused, her eyebrows raised to make her look curious. Offering her an air of innocence. She wasn't unprepared for this moment, but she really didn't want to take up the inner working of her quirk with anyone... but her. The warm feeling in her stomach, the butterflies, didn't help her in keeping her thoughts contained. "It's a very personal thing, and I'm a little too shy to tell people." She simply explained.

He looked somewhat regretful over asking her, knowing he was treading into personal territory. She assumed he also knew this himself. "Oh, well, we don't need to talk about it..."

Hearn felt a great weight lift from her shoulders as she looked into his eyes and sighed. Holding a hand up as to take the word. Eyes turning away a little from Iida and her head too. "My quirk has been... changing ever since the entrance exam." She stated, Maribel's expression was stern, something he seemed quick to realize and take into account.

"I first felt a change when I had to fight Yaoyorozu. When I focus this quirk, and my eyes change. I become easily angered, manic, sometimes delirious. Sometimes, it focuses without me knowing. The sun irritates me."

Iida put his can of orange juice down, laying both of his arms on the table after that. She liked this gesture and continued talking. Her tone started becoming somewhat despondent after that. "Since it messes with my head like this, I can't help but feel afraid for myself... And the people around me..."

"Maybe you should try for medication?" He spoke calmly.

There was a pause, and Maribel sniveled a little. There was a bad feeling in her throat as she started talking.

"Iida... I've tried it as a kid!" She burst out, Iida was taken aback and broke eye-to-eye contact. Her expression changed and her eyes started watering. "My quirk has been messing with my head since I was a kid! But not like this, no! It gave me nightmares every night for five years straight! NOW IT'S EVEN WORSE!" Maribel yelled, angry with herself. There was a pause, and she started sobbing thereafter.

"Maribel, your eyes..." He held out a hand, before abruptly standing up, starting to walk around the table at a hurried pace.

Pausing, she looked at him for a few moments. Waving a hand in front her eyes and noticing the glow. Maribel closed her eyes, putting her head into her arms and resting on the table. All she felt compelled to do was cry.

Her friend patted her back.

* * *

After her short, little episode and revelation, Maribel had a talk with Tenya about these issues. Specifically the incident as USJ. What was most important to her was he didn't tell anyone else, and he agreed to her request. When they walked away from each other, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. It might've been him, but this was the second time she'd told anybody about her quirk's issue in her entire life. There was a lot she hadn't spoken of, things that she hoped she would never have to talk about still. And she also hoped it would remain like that.

Her feet struck the ground, she felt a little shaky on her feet as her eyes darted around the halls. Someone was here, someone eminent, not All Might, Doremy or a god or anything. Maribel's ability wasn't precise enough to know their location like this, especially if she isn't seeing anyone, but she knew they were here. The size of the arena guaranteed she wouldn't easily run into a hero, but there was a chance if any of them wanted to come down and talk to the participants of the first year round.

The white skin of her hand waved in front of her eyes, reflecting a purple light. She closed her eyes for ten seconds, breathed, and it was gone. Maribel then grabbed some the hair that went down to her shoulder. _It's so long now, why is it growing so much? I'll need bundling this up... The last round will have me moving a lot more than the cavalry battle, can't have it blowing into my face. I'm not far away from the room..._

She continued walking and arrived soon enough. Before her was the door to the room where they all were before the festival started. She was quick to open it and stride on in, looking through the lockers for her stuff. Maribel had brought a number of things for this day, including some normal clothes since they weren't really staying at school today. With her hair growing so long recently, she had always thought of giving herself a ponytail or something to make it less annoying to handle.

She pulled her bag out and opened it, taking out a box. Made of some sort of cardboard. Smooth as silk. She pulled the lid off and took out some of the contents. Two red ribbons. Spending some time thinking about it, she took out two more.

 _Is there a mirror?_ She thought and looked around, finding the answer to be a 'no'. There had to be a solution to this problem.

...

Maribel ran her finger across the air before her and created a gap, about as big as her in size. It then split into two, one up, one below. The image she wanted to see was down by her feet, the mirror-like gaps that looked like bent space acting just like a mirror of sorts.

 _I could flip this reflection... Somehow._

 _Boundary between these images, flipped... A subjective boundary._

The images flipped, giving Maribel a full view of her face. As good looking as ever. She grasped the air that laid strewn across her shoulder, covering her ear and began to tie it up in one ribbon. Finishing with a looped bow. Then she did the hair on her other shoulder. Giving her two long locks hanging down the side of her head. The red ribbons offering a nice contrast to her hair. She looked at herself for a bit. Noticing that the hair going down the back of her neck was also a bit long. She was reminded how she thought it was growing a little while ago, but it's far longer now. It laid across her shoulders, after all.

She kind of enjoyed this style, it made her feel different from her usual self. Maybe she should go another step further with it.

The gaps joined together again, and she focused, creating an end behind her and giving her a full view of her back. She reached out through the gap to her back, separating her hair into two locks and tying the loop ribbon around the tips again. A smile strewn across her face, she forgot her troubles, even if the approaching presence loomed in the back of her mind.

* * *

Izuku opened the door to one of the rooms strewn about the place. The room where they had all been before the class started. Before he could go and look for it though, he was treated to an unusual sight, a girl who was tending to her hair. Maribel. Her eyes headed over to him quicker than he could go back through the door. "Hmm?"

"O-oh, sorry!" He apologized as his eyes met with her purple ones, about to exit through the doorway.

"I'm just doing my hair, you know. No need to panic, just hold on..." She spoke, sounding happy, a big contrast to how she was acting in regards to him during the previous battle. Her eyelids closed, and she took a deep breath, a way to clear ones mind. When her eyes opened, they were golden. Then she gently grabbed one of her tails and spun halfway, giving him a view of her right and left. "Looks nice, doesn't it? I think it would suit my hero costume."

"Eh, well, it's nice!" He complimented her meekly, he actually did think it looked nice. If a bit eccentric, but that's part of the course for a hero costume. And it wasn't all that different from some fashion styles that were around today. "I'll be gone quick, I'm just here to get my notebook..." He spoke, walked past her to the lockers.

"Right. ...I'm sorry for getting so angry before. I talked about it with Iida-kun, but maybe you'd like to hear it too?" She asked. It wasn't hard to understand that people would be thinking of treading lightly around her after she had got so angry earlier. Even if they didn't show it. There was another motive behind telling him any of this though, mainly out of irritation. Someone like him might hold back in the future.

Izuku opened up one of the lockers in the room and took his hero notebook. He stopped looking at her, an accepting, invitational look on his face. "It's alright to talk me, Merry-san."

She looked at ease while speaking this, but there was a hint of restraint in her words. Something that Izuku could barely pick up on. "Well, just like I said to him... Since the entrance exam, and since I've started using my quirk more leisurely, it has developed. Quirk training, the nurse said. I don't know why and how, but when I focus, it messes with my head... One reason why I got so angry, but that's not all."

He looked at her, thinking, not sure what to say right now. "When you hit me in the head... Here." She gestured to the side of her head. Maintaining an uneasy calm. "...It reminded me of Noumu's death blow. Sometimes it comes back to me, and when it does and my quirk is active, it flips a switch in my head."

They maintained eye contact for a bit before speaking. "I apologize! I didn't know." He said, wanting to appear as respectful as possible. Equipping a serious expression, he nodded to her. "I won't do it again. I promise."

She let out a sigh of relief and looked truly at ease. "It really makes me wonder if I'm cut out for this kind of career." Her hands then clasped together and dropped down to between her thighs. "But enough of that... I'm a little curious, you know how my quirk lets me feel other ones?"

"...Ah- I think I remember that!" Midoriya recalled, pulling his notebook closer to himself and looking a little nervous.

"Since I've been with All Might during the exercises, it's not hard for me to see the similarity." She tilted her head to the side whilst his eyes widened. "Maybe you're a relative-"

The door swung open and Maribel shifted her attention instantly to an overwhelming presence. Stepping through the doorway was a woman, a little taller than her. Pink hair, red eyes. Her pink jacket looked fit for a cold spring morning, reaching all the way down to her wrists. She had white gloves covering her hands, loose fit jeans and two white double-buns on her head. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"They're picking the matches soon. See you, Merry!" Izuku eagerly said, antagonizing her a little. He ran past this woman who was currently making their way into the room. Now gone, she was willing to look Maribel in the eye. Her presence made Maribel awestruck, it wasn't unlike being around that god. Her eyes widened, and that was when everything calmed down. It was like she was hiding her aura from Maribel.

"You're Maribel Hearn, then?" She said, closing the door with one hand before smoothly dropping both of them into her pockets and walking in. "You're a bit unique, aren't you?"

* * *

 **Maribel might look a little familiar now. And what does Kasen want to say? Well, safe to say that Izuku is going to have something to say to Toshinori before the fighting begins.**

 **Feel free to review, as long as it's constructive enough to improve my writing with. Or share your theories, or whatever.**


	24. Chapter 22: Round 1 & The Horned Hermit

"I am the Horned Hermit, a simple hero. You noticed me before, didn't you? From quite the distance away." The woman said as she walked toward Maribel, her aura was far from as great as it appeared mere seconds before, and would've but Maribel at some ease.

But, she was a little bit wary after her dream scuffle with a youkai earlier that day. Maribel put both of her hands up, holding the arms out just above the waistline and tried to get Kasen to stop, which she did. Earning a patient and profound eyebrow from the pink haired woman. "I don't... really know that many heroes, but you're not some run-of-the-mill hero, that's for sure."

"So you did notice!" Kasen smiled genuinely, her eyebrows raised a little and puckered, showcasing that she was delighted. Standing out from the rest of the supernatural creatures she'd met in the past for how carefree and friendly she appeared. Compared to any of the dancers, she certainly came across as something less of an anomaly. "I am not human, as you may guess."

"...Then what are you?" Maribel asked, inquisitive as if she just heard about a new invention.

"Sennin."

Maribel stared blankly, she grasped what the word implied, a transcendent person or someone who came from the mountains. A hermit. But she had no idea what it actually was. The young girl felt uneasy in her presence. "...Okay? I haven't encountered something like you before... Are you a youkai? I sure hope not."

"Not quite." Kasen responded and shook her head from side to side. Maribel didn't know what to conclude, but she looked suspiciously at the hermit. Whatever was up with this person, it gave her mixed signals. The red-eyed hermit raised her head confidently and looked down at Hearn. Face-to-face, the hermit was about five centimeters taller than Maribel. "I was wondering how you survived that fatal injury you received."

"Exactly like the media said. I woke up after being unconscious, and it was just like that." Maribel feigned, hiding her nervousness as much as she could, and she knew that any normal person would be unable to catch it.

Kasen wasn't so easily fooled, however, she left her mouth hanging open just a little as she deadpanned. Maintaining an air of whimsicality along the serious demeanor of before. She knew it'd make her more approachable. Wanting to get to the point and dropping some hints that she already knew a bit. "Uhuh... Have there been any dreams, or visions you've had?"

Fixating her eyes on Kasen and focusing a little, her eyes turned purple. Done out of stress. She figured she could give up on the act for now. _I don't want to end up fighting another one of these things, and how does she even know to ask that question?_

Making up her mind, Hearn's lips moved to utter the truth to this strange woman. Remaining wary, but opening up like this really allowed her to feel free to speak more casually. "There was this... god that appeared in my mind when I was unconscious, and she saved my life. Earlier today, I saw her again, and I've been feeling almost tireless since. I'm not getting tired by doing anything. Standing up, running for long, fighting..."

"That would be Okina, wouldn't it?" Kasen asked. Blinking with a face devoid of reaction, hiding the surprise that this hermit knew Okina, Maribel couldn't do much other than nod. "Let me tell you to be wary of her. I've been an... acquaintance of hers once. I know how she acts and being close to her may yield you great misfortune in the future. Especially if you don't please her." The hermit explained, moving her right arm to her chest and holding a hand out as she offered advice. Quite a symbolic bodily expression. "Now, I don't have much more to say. I was merely looking to know if she's involved." She, somewhat abruptly, turned around and waved goodbye to the young girl. "I wish you luck with the tournament!"

The hermit lowered her arm and walked toward the door again. As she was about to open it, she felt a touch. Her right wrist was softly grasped by the girl she was conversing with just now, and she looked over her shoulder at the ribbon-decorated blonde. Displaying naught but a face shock full of confusion. "It really sounds like you care about Okina. So, I'll tell you everything I know... If you can give me some advice on controlling my power."

Thinking, the hermit looked down at the ground with wide eyes and froze for a moment. Next looking at her, befuddled.

"...Please~"

After a careful moment of consideration and being lost in thought. Kasen looked back at the Maribel and beamed brightly at her.

* * *

The door behind her closed, and the pink-haired hermit made her exit of the waiting room. Having been satisfied with the tips she'd offered that golden-haired girl. To be honest, she felt that she was in desperate need of guidance. She knew the lunch break would soon be over, and they would announce the matches. Until the matches, she didn't really think of doing much. Maybe keeping watch on the two dancers and engross in some fine conversation whilst enjoying herself.

So naturally, she was on her way to the spectator seats again.

About to go up one of the stairs, she walked past a flaming figure. Realizing it was the number two ranked hero, his presence was clear to her, even if it didn't compare to what came next. She avoided walking into him and started to walk up the subsequent flight of stairs. Her eyes were greeted by the sight of the number one hero, someone she'd worked with during an incident before. "...Ah." She froze, mouth wide open for a moment. With a glance, she could tell his power had waned. Although it was still considerably strong, even if it didn't make much of a difference to her.

"Oh-..." There was a pause between both of them. "I didn't expect you! It must've been eleven years ago! Hope you're as good as you were then, have you decided to be a little less wandering?" He recollected, smiling like he constantly did for the cameras and so forth. Currently, he was wearing a nice suit, so they were both very casual considering the kind of event they were attending.

"No... And do you at least remember my hero name?" She asked and put a hand on her hip whilst looking at him. Kasen had no concern for popularity, but she was more or less the opposite of him. No office, no merchandise, living on entirely through rarely acting. Encountering a celebrity always caused you to feel somewhat inferior.

"The Horned Hermit! I remember!" All Might raised one finger in the air as he realized. "Haha! You haven't aged a day, what kind of skin cream do you use?"

"If you joked like that with any other girl, I'm certain they'd completely abandon you on the spot." Kasen brushed his joke off and decided to lecture him a little. "Do you even have a partner?"

Toshinori shed a drop of sweat as she started low-key rambling against him.

"It might be innocent to say to an actual grandma, but you should be able to tell that my body isn't aging so much. You do know I'm a heteromorphic-type, yes? While I might look normal, I'm not really entirely like a normal person. I heal faster and I age slower, and..."

He decided to chime in to tease her a little. Purely in a comedic fashion. "-You have horns under those buns! ...Right?"

Kasen's face flushed.

"E-eh- My hero name is just metaphorical... Well, I have to get to the spectator seats, see you!" She waved at him quickly and dashed past him, fast enough that an average person would have trouble following her, but not All Might.

* * *

"A-All Might! I was looking for you!"

"It's fine, Midoriya-shounen. Something bothering you?" The giant of a man flashed his trademarked smile at the much shorter Izuku.

Midoriya waved his arms around as if he was startled. His words came out like they were in a stream. "Well, I need to talk about my quirk! We need some privacy!"

All Might wasn't in such a hurry, there was still time left. So he snickered a little at Izuku. It was a bit like watching a child doing antics to him. "You do know you place more emphasis on the importance of words by talking slower? Let me show you." He said and then adjusted his tie. Clearing his throat, he then began speaking as he put both of his arms on his hips. "Fear not! I... AM HERE!"

The freckled boy with the messy hair, who almost looked like he had just woken up from sleeping after a shower, looked blankly at All Might. His fingers tapped across his notebook for a moment as he removed an ink pen from the top and began scribbling down what his idol had just said. "Byslowingdownyourspeakingyoucanplacemoreimportanceonspecificwordsandthusgetyourpointacrossbetter..."

"You done?" The hero asked, still flashing his confident and welcoming smile.

"Yes!" Izuku bowed a little.

"Then let's go talk." All Might said and waved for him to come with him. It didn't take long until they ran into an empty waiting room. Luckily, All Might was employed at U.A., so he had every right and capability to lock the door behind him. Inside of this room was a set of chairs, two of which All Might positioned to face each other in the blink of an eye. Midoriya was a little awestruck at how fast he was moving, but he wasn't unused to it. "Please, sit down." His hero asked him and gently sat down unto the chair, crossing his arms.

Midoriya walked on up to the seat and took it. After that, he prepared himself, browsing through his hero notebook at a brisk pace until he found the classmate he'd been looking for. _Maribel Hearn. Quirk: Boundary Manipulation._

The blond hero stretched himself a little and looked over. Narrowing his eyes as he vaguely recognized the shapes on the outfit, even if they were simply sketched in lines. "So this is about Hearn-shoujo."

"Hm." Izuku nodded. Speaking at a gentler pace, and more seriously. "I ran into her just now, and she apologized for some things during the fight... But she also told me something else. Hearn-san's quirk lets her feel quirks and other things by instinct, and she told me that we are likely related..."

All Might began to cough and erupted in a cloud of steam, revealing the scrawny figure behind all that bulk.

"H-hey are you alright?!" His inheritor reacted, reaching out as if he was about to go on over and help him sit straight.

Toshinori held out a palm, signifying him to stop. "Gah..." He spat, adjusting his posture and then spoke much more calmly and with less bass in his voice. "Well... I didn't think of this. While I have read up on her quirk, it never said that she could use it to identify people. It just gives her a certain vibe around people and things. It's very remarkable that she learnt to do this..."

"...Changing? Well, she has gotten stronger. I think she calls it quirk training"

He ran a hand through his hair to fix it a little and then looked Izuku directly in the eye as he spoke slowly. "As far as I understand it, that's Recovery Girl's guess. But considering the depth of her abilities and the strange circumstances which she survived those injuries, I'm beginning to doubt it's just that. It breaks my suspension of disbelief." Pausing, he coughed a little again. "Her quirk might be something special, but I'm getting carried away. If she knows there's something similar between us, then being around us more would only enforce that belief. What did she say, exactly?"

"That she didn't have difficulty seeing similarities, and thinking that I'm your... Ah... Son or something. I think she's reacted to One For All before, but only when I've activated it."

Toshinori humorously at the thought for a moment and snickered before returning to his serious demeanor. He recalled the training session where Maribel had surrounded herself in a violet energy and made a hole in a roof. He cursed that he'd spent so much time with her during the last two weeks. It meant they had two potential leaks in regards to the quirk.

 _Hearn-shoujo is a remarkably bad leak. I'm uncomfortable in giving her the secret. She's somewhat fickle, despite her sociability with many of the classmates. Being the only one in her class to end up in a confrontation with a classmates outside of an exercise, like Bakugo-shounen did. I haven't talked much to her about Midoriya-shounen or vice versa, but he feels she's trying to distance herself from him. If she doesn't like him and has the secret, then it may not be so good. She didn't seem to have any particular admiration for heroes beyond the normal, so she would likely never be as loyal as Midoriya-shounen._

 _While Bakugo-shounen seems to dislike Midoriya-shounen, they've known each other since childhood and have a bond, even if it's a strained one. They may be able to mend it. And they both admire me immensely, so I feel he would also keep the secret._

"You should avoid talking about One For All with her. And if she truly does want to know more or starts to know more, we'll have to make sure she keeps it secret. To do that... I think you'll have to get closer to her, and you think she doesn't like you that much, right?"

Midoriya nodded. "Right. And yes, she's just been awfully deflecting of me, and in the fight she got furious. Hearn-san told me it was because of the injury to her head and her quirk, but I don't feel I can be sure."

"Reflect on what you've said and done to her. You'll need to find a good approach."

"I might face her in the tournament if neither Todoroki-san nor Kacchan get in the way, I think I'll take the chance there."

Toshinori clapped his hands together and smiled. "Good! But don't go overboard, or else it might do more damage than harm."

Nodding, Izuku was just about to stand up and closed his notebook. But he recalled something. "By the way, I feel like I've started getting the hang of One For All. I can't use it at the same level of power as you, but I can control it to a degree... Still hurts me sometimes, since I can't keep the level of power consistent."

Despite his almost skeletal proportions and face, Toshinori Yagi managed to look proud and clenched his fist and held it up to his chest. "Great work, boy!"

"After Aizawa-sensei got all injured at U.A, he told me to improve on it. I guess that kind of spurred me, hehe..." Izuku stroked the back of his head.

"It's all good. But you should be going to the arena."

"Right. Have a nice day!"

* * *

The lunch break lasted forty minutes, a bit long, but there was a lot that got done in that time. After running into Izuku and this Horned Hermit, she had eaten her lunch pretty quickly so that she could get out into the field in time.

 **"Before we get to the final event, I've got good news for all of those out of the running!"**

Maribel started to walk into the stadium. She'd spent a bit of time alone to ponder. The fair-haired girl didn't know what the others were up to until she saw the girls of her class dressed in cheerleader outfits. First giggling girlishly to herself and then laughing at them. She was met with embarrassment from her classmates. "Hahaha! Who tricked you into this?!"

Present Mic was quick to take notice. **"Hm? What's this?"**

 **"What are they doing?"** Eraserhead followed up.

 **"Class A, why?!"**

Yaoyorozu started waving one of her poms, as if shaking her fist angrily, at Mineta and Kaminari. "Hey! You tricked us!" She shouted, then slumping over a little. "How'd I let myself get fooled like that?"

"Look on the bright side, it's not like any of you look bad." Maribel admitted. Her class all consisted of generally very attractive girls, even if she'd value herself above the rest a bit. Having a bit more mature figure, blond hair and those golden eyes, not to speak of her face. Among her classmates she stood out, if mostly because of her foreign appearance. She felt that maybe she was being a little bit egotistical, but this was the opinion in her mind.

"Well, if there's still time before the main event. Why not just go with it?!" The invisible girl was bubbly as she usually was, even if Maribel didn't direct a lot of attention to her. Without having a face to identify her with, she usually faded into the background.

Whilst they were talking, Maribel moved over next to Yaoyorozu and looked at everyone. "I mean, it looks like you could enjoy yourselves. I'm not going back in and changing, though."

"I don't think the outfit matters that much, but you can join in if you want." Yaoyorozu's expression faded from solemn to accepting and held out one of her cheerleading poms.

Maribel provided her an innocent expression before holding both her hands up. "I think I'll pass, for now, at least."

 **"Well. We hope everyone enjoys this little recreational competition! Once that's over, we begin the final event! It will be a series of one-on-one battles between the sixteen members of the four winning teams. An actual grand tournament!"** The fun settled, and the classes gathered before the little platform that Midnight stood on. Still, she wore the same inappropriate outfit that Maribel didn't like, but now she could care less.

"Every year, there's some kind of one-on-one battle. I'm going to be in that ring I've seen on TV!" Kirishima burst with excitement, clenching his fists and holding them out before him.

"Do they do this every year?" Mina asked, casually waving her poms around at waist-level.

"So I've heard." Maribel remarked. "At least, there's some kind of variation. They mix things up."

 **"The matchups will be decided by drawing lots. Once that's done, we'll move onto the festivities and then the tournament itself!"** Midnight announced, her voice being easily picked up through a microphone so everyone could hear. In her hand was a box that held the lots, considering what was written on the box. "For the sixteen participants, it's up to them if they want to participate in these recreational activities. Now, let's start with the first-place team..."

Maribel walked out of the crowd along with her former teammates. Sato, Shinso and Jurota. Both of the muscle-bound members of the team gave Hitoshi some suspicious looks, Maribel recognized this, but she didn't care so much. The one with the unkempt hair looked tired as ever, and his expression was extremely calm. Perhaps a sign of utmost confidence. Compared to the rest, Hearn felt somewhat cheerful, that Hermit had given her a lot of valuable information and she'd finally blown off some steam when talking to Iida. What remained now was that her fights weren't the wrong ones. Nevertheless, she suspected she could handle everyone if she didn't hold back on her best options.

They all stepped up on stage, and the gargantuan screens that hung from the side of the arena changed to display the unformed bracket. Midnight strolled up to Maribel, and the blonde looked her in the eye. Hearn applied an innocent look as the teacher held out the box to her, and then put her hand into it. Pulling out a lot and taking a brief look at it.

 **1**

This being the first lot was quite funny to her, but it didn't matter. "One!" Maribel said, her youthful voice echoing across the arena through the amplifiers. Next was Hitoshi Shinso, who calmly and delicately searched through the box before drawing something. After pulling it up before him, he stated his number very coldly. "...Six."

Then Jurota Shishida. "Six." He said, his eyes flying on over to look at Shinso with a frown, and their eyes met.

At last, Rikido Sato. He was a little bit more casual about all of this after reading it, but he still shed a drop of sweat. "Five."

And with that, all of them left the stage to join the crowd. Maribel crossed her arms under her bust and made a sigh of relief as she waited for the following team to pick their lots. Next was team Todoroki, and their upcoming placement both excited Maribel and worried her. She didn't really want to face Iida. They'd already fought, and if he didn't want her to be going easy, then she didn't think he'd be gaining anything from this. Simultaneously, she couldn't help but experience a rising excitement at the thought of fighting Todoroki. Maribel understood that her motivation to do so was somewhat irrational. The boundary girl really didn't like how he'd been trying to go about with her, so it was understandable.

There was an air about everyone. None of the people in the crowd wanted to end up against any of the extremely strong students, of which included Hearn. That is, except the strong ones themselves.

The team lined up, Todoroki, Iida, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari. Finally, Midnight moved on over to Todoroki, who slipped his hand into the lot. Focusing intensely at it. When he pulled it out, he said his number after a brief moment of consideration. "Three."

Maribel knew that if none of his opponents were able to outmatch him, she would run into him by the third round. That was based on how the screen portrayed it. How would she defeat him? The easily option always existed, but if she wanted to prove to the media that she wasn't some reckless student who got herself into trouble. She'd have to make it a little more intricate than whisking someone out of the arena.

Her thoughts had drifted, and her mind spaced out, returning just in time to hear Iida shout what she didn't want to hear. "One!"

Raising her head to look at him, he looked down at her bleak poker face. He looked a bit stressed. Midnight walked on over to Yaoyorozu.

"Eight!"

Then to Kaminari. "Four."

Everything started to just speed past Maribel's mind as she began to daydream a little about the upcoming fights. Iida ended up standing next to her, but she didn't pick up on anything he said. The only thing she really took notice of in this strange passage of time was each number announced and the spectral image of a baku. She was being watched by Doremy, that's what clouded her mind during the earlier fight.

"Two!"

"Seven."

"You'll get to match me in match four, big corps! Don't miss it!"

"...Two."

"EIGHT!"

"Five! Let's go, Sato-san!"

"Aha, seven!"

"Come on... Three?"

 _"Quite the entertaining ceremony, are you trying to fit in by participating? I suppose that's none of my business, I'm just keeping an eye on you."_ Came a voice in her head. Doremy.

Maribel's eyes turned indigo as she manipulated a boundary, the one between her and her dream self. Distancing herself, making the boundary stronger, and snapping herself out of her little episode. She'd get to that Baku eventually. After manipulating this particular boundary a couple of times, she thinks she's begun to understand, her dreams became more real the fainter the boundary was. Thus, by strengthening it. Something she'd rarely done before, she could make her dreams less lifelike. Hearn just hadn't tried it before, not to this extent, previously she'd only sensed the difference in the boundary.

She didn't really understand exactly how she did it, but it seemingly came to her naturally. It was like pulling a knot loose, or something like that.

"...If it's what you want, I won't play around, Iida-kun." She asked genuinely, closing her eyes as she turned her head, a deep breath forcing her eyes back to the golden color that you could easily get lost in. Flickering a little.

"...It's okay, do your best! We're all rivals in this fight!" He looked at her, flexing one of his arms and holding a determined expression on his face just behind it. The image burned into her mind for a moment.

 **"And here are the matchups!"** Midnight pleasantly announced, swinging her whip into the air.

 **Hearn vs Iida**

 **Midoriya vs Uraraka**

 **Todoroki vs Sero**

 **Mei vs Kaminari**

 **Sato vs Kirishima**

 **Jurota vs Shinso**

 **Tokoyami vs Mina**

 **Bakugo vs Yaoyorozu**

* * *

 **[That fight was so stressful. Hope I didn't look too bad.]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:12**

 **[No. You did wonderfully! I didn't know you had gotten so strong. Frankly, it's almost jarring to see... But keep going! Your next opponent is Iida, right? The guy I met at the hospital.]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:13**

 **[Yeah. I kind of like him, so I'm not sure if I want to give it my all. He wants me to, though!]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:13**

 **[Don't hold yourself back. There's great potential in this tournament for you, speaking in a career-sense. But if you want, at least give him some moments to shine. What about the other matches, though?]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:14**

 **[Out of the two in the second round, I think I'm most likely to be facing Midoriya.]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:14**

 **[You know him? What's he like?]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:14**

 **[Well, he doesn't really mind his own business. And it feels like he wants to know what I'm hiding... Maybe I'm a bit paranoid? Anyway, he reminds me of the old me, and I don't like it.]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:15**

 **[Well, really? Just don't tell him anything, I know how much you want to keep that stuff to yourself.]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:15**

 **[I will. But I did tell Iida-kun about some of it... None of the most embarrassing stuff, though. I think he feels a bit more open now, even.]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:15**

 **[What? Really? Wow, I didn't expect you to do that. Is it because you're a bit lovey dovey?]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:16**

 **[Please don't tease me right now.]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:16**

 **[Well, I've got class stuff to return to. I'll be watching the fight on my phone, but I can't really talk. I feel a bit embarrassed you mentioned my name like that by the way, everyone just started looking at me...]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:17**

 **[I felt like I ran out of words after the first sentence. But anyway, that's how it feels to be famous, Renko. See you later!]  
\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:17**

Maribel shut off her phone and put it in the locker, locking it right after. Then she walked out of the waiting room and into the hall. There was still a little bit of time before the event started. But she felt it was good to be there early and get some time to gather herself before she went down.

As she walked, she saw an unlikely figure around the corner.

"Eh, Iida-kun?!" She let out. He was still drinking orange juice, and he almost dropped it when she suddenly appeared. "Shouldn't you be moving over to your side of the arena?"

"I-I was about to!" He said, before slurping up another can and tossing it in the trash. Tenya was very energetic right now, as could be seen in the way he moved so restlessly. Like someone who'd been on a night out partying.

"Ah, me too! But I was just going to ask... What do you think of my hair?" She asked casually and gestured to the ribbons that tied up her hair on the side of her face. Maribel then made a girlish spin. Showing off the set of ribbons that were tied around bundles of her hair, going down her back and shoulders.

"R-really nice, actually! I haven't seen a girl with such a hairstyle before! Do you plan on keeping it like that?" Iida exclaimed. He made a gesture pointing to her hair, in a very upperclassman-like way.

"For now. It helps me keep my hair in check. I'll get rid of them if I do a haircut, though..." She spun the hair on her left side with a finger leisurely, then stopped to put her hands on her hips. She started looking more confident, as if presenting a friendly challenge. "But anyway, as I promised, I won't play around. You're fighting me for real, I promise."

He lowered his head, they both smiled at each other. "Hm. Same! Let's make it good, show the spectators what we're made of. Now, I have to hurry!" He said and tossed the cans in the nearby trash, turning around to run off with his quirk. He could get to the other side of the arena quite quickly doing so.

The girl waved with her left hand freely whilst keeping the right hand on her hip. Maribel would then make her journey in the same direction as he, toward her entrance to the arena.

* * *

 _...If I focus it like that, I can bend the aura into a kind of spear, or a bullet? I'm not sure what she means, but I guess it's like how Nishida-san did it. And to keep it from falling apart, I have to either get used to it or find a good state of mind... Then, to avoid hurting myself, course it through my body..._

 _It's like a quirk on its own. If only she'd told me more, maybe shown me something, but that Horned Hermit's probably more concerned about Matara-sama... Should I call her that? I don't know. It feels appropriate. If she did something with me, I suppose it's best to be respectful..._

Maribel had finally made it to the stairwell that would lead her down to level one. But here she finds another person waiting for her. Izuku Midoriya. "You? Do you want something?" She asked and raised both her eyebrows for an instant, before lowering them as the surprise left her.

He stepped forward, looking somewhat happy with the expression and spreading the demeanor to her, at least in part. She couldn't help it. "Iida-kun told me about you having some troubles, and it just reminded me..."

Maribel stared at him and exhaled, her heart skipped a beat and she felt either empty or ready to explode. One thing about the statement made her reluctant to indulge in her latter feeling, 'some', so he might just have told him about the quirk's current state.

"I-If it's about my quirk. It's okay, I have it under control." She calmly tried deflecting.

"...Merry-san, I want to help you!"

She shut her mouth and just looked a bit shocked. A couple of seconds went by. Gone was her facade of normalcy, substituted by irritation that laced her voice. "With what?"

Midoriya tossed the words out of his mouth, words that could've taken many minutes of thought before he said them. Despite that, they were still very raw, as he wore his heart on his sleeve. "What's so bothering you so much that you can't even tell your friends about it?! A-and what was that look earlier, anyway?! Just tell me if there's anything wrong!"

Without much interference from her quirk, Maribel couldn't bring herself to react in any way other than shame. She looked away, rubbing her wrist and angled her eyebrows upwards. It quickly transformed into chagrin the more she thought about it all.

"Merry-san! I- We just want to-..." He raised his head to look at her, looking almost ready to shed some tears. When the girl looked back at him, she couldn't bear herself to stand looking at him. He cried for her, even when she didn't want him around and used her behavior against her. Ironic or not, she absolutely despised it and grit her teeth. Looking right back at him and taking some slow steps.

"Mind your own business!" She shouted at him, sending out an arm to knock him back. He stumbled and made an antagonized grimace in her direction. "Stop acting like you can take a conversation anywhere you please! It pisses me off! Leave me alone!" Hearn continued, keeping a steeled and furious stare aimed right at his eyes. Walking right past him and giving him another push, lighter this time, beginning to slowly step down the staircase.

Midoriya was conflicted, but he couldn't help himself from trying to reach out again. "Listen! I don't-...!"

It got progressively darker further down the staircase. The lack of illumination served to let the lights of the upper level cast a shadow on the girl. Looking over her shoulder while standing at the second flight, she stared at Midoriya. Violet was her eyes, and shining, and he couldn't dare to look into them for long.

There was a little pause before she spoke, reverberating a little down the staircase.

"You just... I hate you, and your intrusiveness."

He shut up and looked down at her with a shocked expression. There was something in his throat that prevented him from speaking.

"Leave me alone." Maribel then proceeded to wander down the stairs to the arena entrance, breaking her eye contact with Midoriya.

A drop of sweat ran down Maribel's forehead.

 _I feel like I've stirred up too much trouble... But I can't help it. I swear my quirk is starting to drive me insane. Approaching him myself is fine, but I can't stand a second of him coming to me and trying to solve my problems! They're MINE! I'll deal with them MYSELF!_

* * *

Stress, irritation and a sense of being wronged had filled Maribel's mind. But she couldn't be totally angry and maintained an optimistic outlook. What had Iida told him? She surely wondered. Maribel felt she would feel guilty for even asking the question to him. There was a vacant expression her face as she contemplated all of this.

Walking out onto the field, Maribel initially held a hand over her eyes as to block the sunlight. Unbearable at first, and then less so and prompting her to lower it back. Then she made her way to the rectangular ring.

 **"The first match of the first round in this finals tournament!"**

The crowd cheered as she wandered toward the arena. Carrying herself as elegantly as she could without making it look forced. It looked to be a success. Maribel felt that her feet were light. She didn't exert any energy trying to stand up, as if her muscles could produce ordinary levels of strength without any strain.

 **"From the hero course, the girl who recovered miraculously, and a rising star- She changed her hairstyle between the rounds too?!"**

 **"MARIBEL HEARN!"**

Stepping up the brief flight of stairs and entering the arena. She laid violet eyes on her competitor. Stirring butterflies in her stomach for an instant. It seemed he could hold eye contact for a moment before gently wandering them to the crowds watching them. Both she and her eventual opponent wandered a couple of meters into the ring and then stopped with a distance of fifteen meters between them.

 **"Versus!"**

 **"Hailing from the same class, a member of a renowned hero family!"**

 **"TENYA IIDA!"**

 _Maybe I'm just being paranoid about what he said, maybe he just said that I've had it really bad at nights or something like that._

As fast as a speeding bullet, her eyes haphazardly sought the most eminent of people in the arena. First, she found the crowd containing the Horned Hermit. From the distance, Maribel could only make out what she was wearing. Then gazing to the other end of the arena, she identified the familiar presence of the dancers. Looks like she was drawing a lot of eyes, not just from heroes and other people.

 **"The rules are simple. Force the opponent out of bounds, or immobilize them! You can also win by making the opponent cry surrender!"**

Looking forward again, she took a look at Iida and wondered how he would fight. In the last spar they had, he had attempted a frontal charge. Her excellent perception allowed to counter it before it could really damage her. _Recipro burst... That's going to be troublesome. I'll have to act faster than him and make it difficult for him to hit me, but as long as I can see him, I have the ability to counterattack._

"Let's go, Maribel!" He enthusiastically yelled out to her. The voice conveying nothing but encouragement in its tone. Tenya Iida clenched both his fists and looked over at her with confidence. Smiling at the same time. She couldn't help but return the same facial expression. Her legs felt ready to kick into motion, and her quirk was ready to work with her thoughts.

 **"Ready!"**

Her heart beat faster and her thoughts raced.

 _Createagapandjumpthroughittoinstantlygetpasthimthenhe'llhavetoturnaroundifhe'schargingatmeandifheturnsaroundwhenhegetsitI'lltryandfighthimupcloseforamoment!_

 _Maybe I'll give him a... Nevermind._

Present Mic yelled into the mic, and the crowd shouted. **"START!"**

 _ZUN - Immaterial and Missing Power - Night Falls ~ Evening Star_

The man was quick on his feet, and they burst out flaming gas, massively accelerating Iida toward Maribel. His footwork looked different, far more balanced, that she could tell. Within the next instant, she created a gap in front of her and kicked away, jumping right into the air with enough force to send her through the gap.

On the other end of the arena, Maribel appeared just next to where Iida had been previously. No longer unused to the new view after going through a gap, Maribel took in the situation before her.

Tenya spun a half-circle as he shot his foot down into the ground and twisted his leg. His engines fired off at full gear and quickly created a grinding halt and then another, even faster charge. He hadn't even crossed two-thirds of the distance between them when this occurred. This meant that her maneuver had backfired in a sense, he had gotten even closer.

But alas, her best defense was her eyes. Naught but a blink created another gap in front of her, shaped like an oval and bending light like some sort of mirror. Discerning it from everything else, you'd be seeing would be hard on this kind of field, especially when she placed the other end on the opposite side of the arena.

To her surprise, there was once again the sound of grinding against the ground. Something that she could only hear from Iida when he was slowing down. The sound ended as abruptly as it came, and Iida made a half-spin around the gap in an elegant motion with a leg raised. Fire erupting from his exhaust pipes. The next split second, he burst forward at her and turned into a fuzzy image as he moved. That is, to the girl herself. Narrowing her eyes, Maribel was just fast enough to catch this little detail, his raised leg.

She bent a little to the side and put up her arms in the way of the attack, withstanding the heavy force still standing. But stumbling back a meter and a half. There was still a couple of meters between her and the dark colored edge of the arena. "Ngh..."

Whilst she recovered from the heavy impact, Iida stomped his foot down onto the ground and put an abrupt stop to himself. The leg then flared up again, but not before the blonde reared herself back and folded her arms in. Ready to punch. She destroyed the previous gap she had used to move with and created another one, leading right to Iida. It was large enough to fit her entire upper body. Maribel first shifted her footing, imitating what All Might had taught her step by step. Then she twisted her waist, then sent her upper body forward and then extended her fist. Two dozen centimeters away from the point of impact, Iida's chest, her fist loosened into an open palm and sprawled itself over Iida's chest.

Naturally, Maribel grunted as she attacked and the receiver of the action too.

With surprising strength, she pushed Iida tumbling backwards and off of his feet. However, she hadn't considered his flaring leg would have enough time to move. It caused Iida to spin and kick her right in the stomach.

She yelped.

It tossed her two meters into the air as a result and away from her own gap. The gap disappeared as swiftly as Hearn left it. The spectators all roared in excitement.

Present Mic chimed in through his microphone. **"With that speed, they can't slowdown to dodge so easily, eh?"**

 **"That's why you play it safe."** Aizawa muttered over the speakers.

The strong impact of her push caused the man to tumble away four meters and laying on his back by the end of it. Whilst Hearn spun through the air and landed on her chest. It hurt, but she didn't have any trouble getting up, first onto all fours and then onto her two legs with a strong push. Her arms flew back a little from the equal and opposite reaction resulting from this, flowing into an immediate attack. Her arms easily snapped into place to punch again. Iida's legs exploded in thrust to get the man up as quick as possible, but the girl was already ready to strike at that point. With an angry grimace to go with it.

Attacking through a gap with a similar punch to before, there was little time to dodge with a gap only a couple of inches from his chest. But Iida reacted on time. Twisting his legs to the left and making his engines spout fire allowed him to dodge it by mere centimeters in a minimal slide. He wasn't expecting her followup however, as her fist disappeared back into the gap, another appeared just next to his throat. Maribel had imitated the motions of All Might's Detroit smash, focusing on overhead power. With a quirk like that hero in particular, the positioning wasn't incredibly relevant, but for her it allowed for marginally increased punching power. It struck Iida right in the cheek as he barely saw it coming out of the corner of his eye. Making a bit of a nasty sound as he was knocked over again.

There were some curious eyes drawn to her because of the particular attack. Those who could identify it, at least. A cheer erupted because of the successful blow.

"Argh!" He yelled out as he tumbled a second time, catching himself in the center of the ring with his right leg and left arm. Maribel stood and watched for a moment as Iida tried to pick himself up. Tenya stumbled a little as he got onto his two feet and quickly set his eyes back on his opponent. The girl was lovely to look at, even with a threatening visage on her face, ready for combat.

Given a few seconds of eye-contact, the blonde's demeanor couldn't hold fast and she started looking a lot more innocent. Lowering her arms to her sides and standing normally. "H-hey! Iida-kun, are you hurt? I'm sorry!" Maribel started to look a little concerned, her odd change of character felt almost comical in the situation.

The side of the guy's face was severely bruised by her attack, blood slowly surfacing but not dripping. With haste, he felt up his chin and groaned in pain. When he looked at his hand, it was a little stained with blood, thus the bleeding wasn't severe. Both of them shed drops of sweat, and Maribel sighed in relief. "Let's get back to it, Maribel-san!" He yelled at her abruptly and entered a running stance.

Speedily running her index and middle finger across her forehead, she wiped away the sweat and got back in position to strike. Furrowing her brows mildly.

 _If he insists..._

His engines heated up and began to spew air, then fire. **Fyuuu-**

"Recipro..."

Her eyes widened and she became very attentive. _Here it comes!_

"BURST!"

 **-uuuush!**

Iida's quirk went into overdrive, and his engines spewed a brilliant blue flame. There was a boom as he disappeared from his position. The violet eyes of the girl could definitely catch this blur in movement, but it was challenging. She saw a streak of light, fire, going in a half circle around her and then homing in. From her perspective, there was a split second where he shifted into position to kick and raised her arms in the rough position to absorb the impact. Despite this precaution, it landed in her gut and knocked the wind out of her. Even worse, it made her airborne and sent her spinning, hurling her toward the grassy field outside the arena.

Present Mic talked into the mic, outshining the noise of the crowd that had erupted as her competitor used his super move. **"Iida breaks out his super speed again! I can't even see him!"**

Her perception came to a halt as she focused.

 _What the hell? How do I match it? How do I defeat it? Landing gives him a free shot... I'll have to act before he moves within these few seconds._

If she didn't act, Maribel would be ringed out. And it was difficult to come up with anything while in mid-air. But she had experience, more experience than Iida in exactly this kind of situation. During her fight that long-fingered villain she acted during high velocities, spontaneously, just like this...

 _1:44_

She swung her left arm forth and the right one back and her aura burst with energetically for a singular moment. It was subtle, and she had no idea how she did it, but it rotated her to face the arena whilst in mid-air. Iida stood still with his engines still flaring, clearly ready for a followup if she got close again, a confidence plastered on his face. Maribel was surrounded by a purple glow for a split second, a very simple and lacking dip into her technique. It didn't hurt to use for but one moment.

Without delay, she created a gap behind her and reached back, putting her hands on the other side and the edge of it. The edge folded in and became easier to grasp, and so she did and swung right through it. Curling up enough to easily pass through

The border space she had spontaneously created expanded on the inside, air floated in and suspended her in place for a moment, despite her momentum. She had positioned herself a little bit above and a little bit to the left of him, essentially hanging from the gap. She felt devilish for what she came up with, and while she was reluctant to anger or do anything bad to Iida. There was something that just made her lose restraint.

All he could do was turn around and look where she went to. Hearn couldn't help but malevolently grin as she had used his own attack to maneuver. _A perfect setup, no escape!_

Maribel let go from her gap and furled out with her left leg still curled up. Arms into the air. It let out all the air that it had very quickly sucked up, a long tube of fifteen meters with just below two meters diameter. Half of it would be ejected toward her and Iida and the rest into the air above them, but she would absorb most of that force to propel her for a focused melee attack.

"HIYAH!" She shouted, flying towards him with both surprise and enough speed that dodging wasn't possible. He managed to turn his head and light up enough fire at his feet to begin movement, but he couldn't escape. Silently cursing that he couldn't put up a good fight. Her iron-soled shoes hit him right in the chest. Evening him with the ground with a single powerful kick. Maribel fell forward at a great speed after they both landed, unable to keep her balance after such an impact. Carrying this velocity, she was forced into a mid-air somersault and landed on her back after flying over Iida's head. Both at the edge of the ring, parallel to each other.

 _Song: End_

As his recipro burst died out and his engines were silenced, Iida cried lowly in pain as held his arm against his chest. "Grnh-argh..."

Meanwhile, her blonde opponent laid and panted as she looked up into the sky.

"...Hah... Ha... ...Can you stand?"

"...I think you broke something... Grh..." He grunted.

She didn't blink for a moment as she thought. This was allowed as per the rules, but I didn't want to go overboard...

 _I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to._

Pushing herself up onto a knee. She looked over her shoulder and back at Iida. "I'm sorry for hurting you that badly..."

"It's a battle after all... Ngh..." He said as he laid there, cringing in pain and slowly pushing himself onto his side to look at Midnight who stood off-stage. "...I give up!"

Midnight raised her whip. **"Iida can't continue, and he surrenders... Hearn moves onto the second round!"**

Maribel stood up and took a deep breath. There was no weight to her body, at least it didn't feel like it. After a moment, she didn't even feel tired. Turning around, she shot a guilty glance at Iida. "That was... intense. Again, sorry." She couldn't help but repeat herself, and walked on over to him to help him onto his two feet.

He didn't have any trouble standing. But the wound made it agonizing to move around too much. And at the same time, he had other things on his mind.

* * *

 **"The battle was quick, but they fought at breakneck speeds! Iida became too fast for the eyes to see and Hearn managed to use this against him! Let's give them all an applause for this exciting start!"**

Although clearly not the most powerful cheer the spectators could muster, the clapping echoed all across the arena.

Hearn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clearing her thoughts. When her eyelids opened, her eyes went back and forth between the focused state and the normal one. Settling on the golden color after ten seconds. She looked at Iida for a moment, and when he looked her in the eye with a pained yet relieved look, she couldn't help but tear her eyes away from him on instinct. Maribel felt unusually hot for an instant and shed a drop of sweat.

With some courage, she looked back at him and bowed politely. Making a somewhat vague statement as to keep the secret between them. "...I think it was my quirk. Apologizes."

"It's okay!" He blankly stated and robotically swayed one of his arms up and forth. Cringing in pain the second later and holding his chest. "Ouch, ouch!"

Maribel walked on over to him and would put her arm behind his back. "I'll help you to the nurse."

The guy leaned in on her, and she couldn't help but blush a little. Without having her quirk active, she still found the strength to support him, which was weird. But considering how her legs felt oddly without stress, that should've been obvious.

 **"...Cute. Just like back in High School."** Midnight spoke into her microphone. Both of the contestants became red like tomatoes. And Maribel looked down at the ground, hurrying her pace to the arena's exit. There was a resounding "Aww~" from the crowd that spread through the arena very quickly.

Almost as if trying to protect his students, Eraserhead countered her embarrassing comment. **"Was that a reference to how old you've gotten?"**

Midnight deadpanned and shut up. The crowd turned to laughter as the contestants left the arena.

Iida wasn't quite satisfied, in truth. But he felt that it would be mean to become mad at her due to mere ambition, but at the same time he felt like he was disappointing someone.

* * *

 **As always, drop a review and feel free to ask me anything as long as it isn't entirely irrelevant to the fic or my writing. I do like criticism that helps me improve.**

 **Not the best chapter I've ever written, and I do feel like I should've made the first battle somewhat longer. But I've far more plans for the upcoming round.**

 **I was going to have Kasen call herself a hermit but in the English language there's no reason why Maribel would think it's in any way mystical. Literal hermits have existed and such. So instead I referred to her by the Japanese word in this specific instance. By the way, the first thing she says is a direct reference to her first proper introduction in WaHH.**

 **Once again, I think I'm focusing a bit on build-up. Next chapter won't have as much, I believe.**

 **As for the fight in this chapter, I felt like trying to give a start to a character arc for Maribel, mainly regarding her opinion of her own quirk. What's important about it is how it makes her act with other people. It will take her to dangerous places if my plan remains the same.**


	25. Chapter 23: I'm Trapped Under Ice

**[I apologize for messing up! Please forgive me.]  
\- Izuku Midriya, 2/5/2146 at 12:23**

 **[This is going to be more troublesome than I initially desired it to. Your heroic spirit is excellent, but there are times where you have to control it. I will try and talk to her.]  
\- Toshinori Yagi, 2/5/2146 at 12:24**

 **[I'm sorry.]  
\- Midoirya Izuku, 2/5/2146 at 12:24**

 **[You don't need to apologize, just don't do it again. Remember, show the world that you're here!]  
\- Toshinori Yagi 2/5/2146 at 12:25**

Midoriya sighs regretfully and put his phone to sleep, putting it in the locker where it belonged. He locked it and wandered out of the room, carefully closing the door behind him and then making his walk toward the stairs down to the arena's entrance.

His opponent, Ochaco, held a noble dream to win so she could bring needed money to her family.

In the nature of this competition, Midoriya would have to shatter this dream to make his come true.

It was a hard thought for him.

* * *

Maribel had waited in the nurse's office ever since she helped bring Iida there. It hadn't been more than a few minutes. But Recovery Girl was quick with the treatment. While she was there, Maribel felt that she just had to get a lot of weight off of her chest. She sat on a chair beside his medical bed while the nurse was on the other side overlooking the situation and writing things down.

A hangdog expression strewn across her teenage face, Maribel arched a little closer forward to Iida's head. He looked like he was deep in thought. "I know you said it's okay, but I can't help but feel dreadful."

Iida sounded terribly tired, probably from Recovery Girl's miraculous healing. Because of it, he almost mumbled. "...You don't have to keep apologizing. I get it... anyone would be apologizing for breaking a bone. You're still my friend."

She leaned closer to him, almost right next to his ear. With words laded with sore disappointment in herself. "...I just can't get over it. My quirk messes with my head, and the fact that I lose control frightens me..."

He couldn't find the words to respond. Tenya understood her predicament from their previous conversation, but it didn't help him all that much. Failing to find the words, he had to think of something else. "...Your next match will be against either Ochaco-kun or Midoriya-kun, which reminds me... You don't seem to like him all that much."

A drop of nervous sweat ran down her forehead as she looked at Iida. She breathed in and tried to speak freely, lowly, just to him. "...Thinking of him makes me feel bad about myself, the other issues don't help..."

Tenya looked conflicted as she said this, admitting to disliking a friend of his was something she really didn't want to do. It is possible she was being awfully clingy with Iida in particular, because she felt that she absolutely didn't want to upset him. "...?"

"I just, just... He..." Maribel lost her words before she could say. She moved one of her soft hands up to his face all of a sudden. He didn't stop her from doing this, but he did look a little uncomfortable. Both of them just stared into each others eyes for a moment, until Maribel saw the reflection of hers in his.

Iida wasn't in any condition to act as energetically as he ordinarily did, so obviously he wouldn't freak out like Maribel assumed he'd do typically. Being fixated mostly to the medical bed whilst he was resting from his healing. She felt entranced and knew why, but there was little she could think of it right now. "Eh... ahem..." He let out, breaking eye contact with her after a brief while.

A little shiny, violet color came from her eyes, and they shifted as her quirk focused itself. The feeling she experienced, love, was suddenly weighed down by something indescribable. It was as if her emotion just cut off and turned into something else, there was a void of feeling in her body. She felt almost disembodied. Maribel closed her eyes and pulled away suddenly, ruffling the bed a little and wobbling her chair as she straightened out. Face completely red. "-I don't want to talk about it." She poorly excused herself and obscured her face with her hands in some manner of shame.

"Something going on?" Recovery Girl asked, wheeling her chair around to look at them. The close proximity of the two students had stopped the old woman from hearing anything they said. But pulling away from Iida made enough sound to receive her attention.

"No." Maribel opened her eyes and brushed the elderly woman's words off, she sounded calm. Lowering her hands. It wasn't subtle something had shocked her, as she was rosy in the face, but Maribel's embarrassment had faded swiftly. Chiyo didn't take much of a look at either of them after Maribel's response and turned back to her personal computer. Iida couldn't help but look up at her, just as red as she was. The difference between their two reactions was he that still looked like he'd been a second away from catching a kiss.

Both of them were silent for a bit. Until Iida spoke once more, flustered. "P-please give me a warning before you surprise me like that..."

"...I'm gonna go to the spectator seats." She said, covering her mouth with a slightly clenched hand. Looking away from his general direction. Then standing up and walking over to the door.

"Huh...? A-alright..."

"Rest well, Iida-kun!~" Maribel eagerly waved goodbye with an unusually cheery voice, not wanting to embarrass herself further she'd opted to lighten the mood. She opened the door quickly and shuffled out, slamming it closed and walking swiftly down the hall.

After thirty meters, she slowed down a little. And five more, she slowed to a halt, and eventually stood still. Gently placing a hand on the wall and seemingly relaxing.

Her body was brimming with mystical power, her lovely eyes glowing an inhuman light. Rearing back her gentle hand, she smacked the wall fast enough for the wind to howl, all out of irritation and caused a visible dent in it. Her hand hurt really badly after that, and she winced in pain, but there was no visible wound.

 _Why does it have to be like this?! Damned quirk..._

Breathing again, the girl soothed herself and lowered her hand. Now standing still and looking at nothing in particular, her thoughts raced, she spaced out.

 _I swear... I can't ever be happy or satisfied! Something must always trouble me one way or another... Since I can't help myself, I think I'll just have to forcefully cut him out of my day to an extent. Until I am able to do something about this problem. After that, I can be just how I want to be..._

Looking desperate, Maribel immediately tried to think of something she could do to stop her quirk from acting like this.

 _Experimenting with boundary manipulation on my mind. Talking to that hermit... or Okina._

 _Lastly, I could just find some possible way to get rid of the quirk... But I don't know my quirk factor, and even if I did I'd have to hurt myself to get rid of it... And I couldn't be a hero after that, unless the aura ability I have is not centered on my quirk... The hermit has it, and the dancers too, after all._

 _I just wish there was an easy way..._

It sounded odd to think about, wanting to remove ones quirk. But Maribel was seriously considering it, she detested it that much despite how useful it was. Without it, she wouldn't have to go through such a childhood or any of these issues.

She snapped back into reality, breathed out and walked away.

* * *

Ochaco ran straight ahead at Deku, who lit up with the power of his quirk. It was agonizing to use, and hard to control, but he wasn't breaking his arms anymore. Taking a firm grip of the girl's arms while she was in a crouched position, Midoriya tossed his friend several meters back. She rolled on her side and looked tired, but was still getting up at the same speed before. Anyone could see why she was so active despite how exhausted she was, she had a dream to fulfill.

The entire battle had been like this, one charge and one throw after another. Some of the throws were close to an elimination, but with some clever maneuvering in the air, the girl managed to evade even this. The ability to float without a care for gravity and just the pressure of the atmosphere weighing you down was quite useful. It seems like the audience was quite thrilled about it.

Unusually fired up, the girl held a short speech partly as a distraction. Midoriya froze and looked at her, bewildered and unmoving. "I don't like fighting you, and you're quite clearly stronger than me. But everyone makes mistakes, Deku-kun! You are too focused on me, and that means I WIN!"

The girl brought her hands together.

 _What is she...?!_

Izuku shifted his eyes up and his fingers twitched into position.

" **Delaware...!** "

His arms ignited with the power of One For All, one grabbing the other at the elbow and then swinging up into the air. There was a whoosh of air from the superpowered movement as he then released his finger flick at 100%.

" **SMASH!** "

A wind blasted up into the sky at supersonic velocities, blowing some of the rocks into each other, stopping them cold and tossing them into the surrounding field. What remained of the spectacular strategy was but rubble.

"Gah!" Midoriya grabbed his broken finger in pain.

And the distraction it had made.

Uraraka broke into a sprint, the fastest she had ever gone, with an outstretched hand. Midoriya was too late in lowering his head to look at her to grab her attention. Her fingertips poked at him just long enough to activate her quirk. But she wasn't fast enough to escape his last chance for an attack.

Erupting in green lightning, Midoriya briefly cringed in pain and blindly swiped across his front, where she was. The flat of his hand made a clean impact with the side of her face, smacking her to the side and down into the ground. In much the same way, Midoriya's momentum sent the air to the side. Spinning him down onto the ground and barely catching himself before his head struck the ground. "Hngh!" He groaned in pain as One For All taxed his body, the glow quickly disappeared after that.

Midnight swung her whip down, the speakers reverberating her voice all across the stadium. **"Uraraka-san! Knocked out! I** **zuku Midoriya has won!"**

Midoriya couldn't help but feel like he needed to apologize. "Uraraka-san! I'm sorry!"

 **"It was a hard fought battle for both of them! I couldn't speak at the end, it took me by S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E! That much effort for a DISTRACTION!? Good work, Uraraka!"** Present Mic finally ended the match.

In the distance, the class watched. Excited, worried, and pondering.

The blonde girl cupped her chin in her hand and watched. _If using all that power at once breaks his bones, then he must be limiting it in the rest of his body. I don't think I could match that kind of strength without having to rely on the ability to focus my aura._

 _...This feels terribly similar to my case, I don't think it's hard to see that those two like each other. He probably feels as much guilt as I do._

* * *

 **[I'm back! The lesson's over, so we've got a break. Wanna know something funny?]**  
 **\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:45**

 **[Sure.]**  
 **\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:45**

 **[Well, after yours and the second match, the guys have seemingly become fans of you and that Uraraka girl. And they're giving you many compliments. Let's just say they think you're cute.]**  
 **\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:46**

 **[I have an overload of notifications, I can't read all of this...]**  
 **\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:46**

 **[So this is what it's like to have lots of fans, huh? I haven't even told them I know you yet, but now I'm scared to.]**  
 **\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:47**

 **[Wow, ah... I didn't know so many people liked me. A few are a bit vulgar, though... -_- ]**  
 **\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:47**

 **[I guess that's just how guys are. And I mean, it's not like you don't have a lot to be complimented.]**  
 **\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:48**

 **[...You're not wrong, I just wish they would be polite. I think I can beat Midoriya-san, by the way.]**  
 **\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:49**

 **[Good luck! :D]**  
 **\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:49**

Maribel closed the messaging app and also the social media app she was using. There was a feeling of lacking privacy, people would no doubt have their eyes on her if she went to do something. That still fades with time, but she'd have to deal with it for a while. She thought she'd surely be able to adapt to those conditions, too.

The girl looked back at the battlefield just as the arena shook. Almost a quarter of it was struck by a rapidly appearing glacier.

* * *

 **"These are my BABIES! By making use of the hyper-energy dense fuel, it creates a massive pressure at the bottom which is stabilized by-"**

The voice faded out of Maribel's mind, it was agonizing to listen to. And if she wasn't actively focusing on suppressing her quirk, she's sure she would've gotten angry at this point.

Maribel's phone buzzed, and she took it out to see what it was. Aside from a ridiculous number of messages on her social media account, which she should really set to private to moderate the intake, there was a message from Renko.

 **[She sure is babbling. I haven't seen anyone from the support class on stage anytime I watched this.]  
\- Renko Usami, 2/5/2146 at 12:55**

The blonde quickly fiddled with her phone and typed in a message.

 **[I might have an idea to deal with it, but I'm not sure...]  
** **\- Maribel Hearn, 2/5/2146 at 12:55**

Putting the phone to sleep, Maribel jumped off of her seat and stood up. The classmates that were sitting all ended up looking at her as she then suddenly started waving toward Kaminari.

 _He definitely knows where we sit, and I know he thinks I look nice. Not a stranger, I'm going to think he's accepting this demonstration because that Mei looks nice enough. As if he'd get favors for helping her. But I think I might have more value._

With the distance between them, knowing where people were looking was impossible. But a large physical gesture? Much less so. Maribel saw how his head turned to look at the spectators and it stopped moving when it reached their row.

Now was the time to act, so she made a smooth motion where she blew a kiss. Then putting her arms up, turning to face Mei's direction and quite leisurely punching the air. Moments later, she stopped and look at him again with a genuine-looking, fake smile.

The few people of her class who were looking at her were confused, and Maribel knew some of her new fans probably filmed that. But it didn't matter, she could ignore them for now and avoid answering questions.

There was a loud buzzing on the arena stage, and several small explosions took place.

* * *

 **"The fifth match is a fight between two muscly men!"**

There was a low cheering from the crowd constantly in the background.

 **"Strength derived from what's sweetest, sugar! Rikido Sato from the Hero Course!"**

The cheering became louder.

 **"Versus..."**

Louder.

 **"A quirk for someone with a heart of steel! His fists are harder than metal, harder than brick!** **Eijiro Kirishima from the Hero Course!"**

Even louder.

Rikido Sato cracked his knuckles. "Let's make this an actual fight! I'm pumped full on sugar, so I won't take long!"

Wiping a tear from his eye. "Yes! We'll make this as manly as possible!"

 **"Fifth match, start!"**

Both parties broke into a sprint to close the distance between them. It took two seconds to cross it, and just before they became in punching distance, both of them winded up with their blows.

"ORA!" Kirishima roared as he and his entire body hardened, landing his fist square in Sato's jaw. At the same time, he was struck in the chest. Forcing him to stumble back three whole meters whilst the stunned Sato had to recover much more steadily.

Grunting from the impact, Sato wiped his mouth for any saliva or blood that might've flown out thanks to the impact. Quickly flowing into a wider stance as he waited for Kirishima.

 _He doesn't know the weakness of my quirk, and his quirk gives him much better defense and offense than just power does... His arms can cut you with how hard and sharp they are, but if I grab him, I wouldn't have to worry! Grapple!_

Eijiro stood still and looked at him. "You ain't coming at me?! I'm going to have to get a little closer to beat the shit out of you!"

His taller, more muscular opponent retorted hotly and made a taunting 'Come here!' gesture with his fingers. "Then come as close as you like!"

With his hardening skin glistening with fresh sweat, Kirishima lunged forward. Both of them were reckless, and hadn't undergone much training. Kirishima knew his body could be used both as a sword and as a shield, so he held the advantage in most situations against Sato. Once he came close enough, he sought to strike Sato straight in the gut with his hardened fist. If it wasn't for his superpowered muscles, that would surely have knocked the wind out of him. But unlike the cavalry battle, Sato had access to sugar before the battle. Bearing his mightier weight onto Kirishima and his longer reach, he firmly hugged the spiky haired boy, much to his surprise. Shuffling a little with his legs and spinning on his heels, he built up the power for a spin. In a terrible panic, Kirishima tried to break free. Failing and punching Sato in the chest to no avail. Without being on the ground, leveraging enough force in a punch to hurt was difficult as the weight of the body would often be used in a punch.

With one toss, Kirishima was sent rolling down the broad side of the arena. Halting himself mere moments before he was ringed out by striking his sharpened and hardened arms into the ground to kill his momentum. He stood up and entered a punching position. He then came to a sudden realization. "If you can't hurt me, you're gonna grab me!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Sato roared out and broke into a sprint and crossed his arms before him, leaning forwards just a little. His bulging muscles, posture and large size denying Kirishima a direct shot to his gut or head. At first Kirishima tried to move to the side, but with enhanced musculature, Sato's legs would've made him faster too. He slowed down only a little to shift him aim. When the red-haired boy understood this, he braced himself and promptly dug the back of his feet into the ground. The stone cracked under his feet just a little, giving him a very tiny bit of support.

With his skin turning almost steel-like, Kirishima leaned forward and focused his balance in front. He was going to try and counter the force of the tackle by making his center of gravity low. By his instinct, this was a good move for someone who was suddenly cornered. Howbeit, he was too slow, and his close proximity to the edge of the ring made his defeat unavoidable.

Rikido Sato crashed into Kirishima, his upper body hitting only part of his classmate's upper body. But with superior weight and terrific velocity, Eijiro lost balance and fell over. Hitting the outside of the ring with his head.

 **"Kirishima-san ringed out!** **Rikido Sato advances to the second round!"**

Sato paused and breathed after that.

 **"WHOOOOH! This is the kind of technical brawling you'd see at a mixed martial arts tournament! Well done, both of you!"** Present Mic congratulated both of them.

A boring voice came thenceforth. Eraserhead spoke. **"...They could use some work, but it wasn't bad for first-years."**

Helping his classmate up, both Eijiro and Rikido shook hands. The echoes of the crowd roaring, talking and whistling made a nice

"You did good, but try mixing up punching and other things. You might more like a steel rod than a person, but if I can just toss you away, that's no good." The larger of the two, he with the full lips, critiqued his fighting. Honestly and nobly at that, his former enemy couldn't help but shed a tear.

"You were freaking amazing! So manly! Maybe we could train together sometime?"

Far in the distance, in the spectator seats, two people surveyed the field.

Hitoshi Shinso had taken a keen eye to the fight, to see if anything strange happened. His likely and eventual opponent, Sato, didn't seem tricky at all. "Even with that kind of brawn, I only have to make him talk to stop him. If I'm not easily caught when fighting the next guy, I think that'll be easy..."

The student of the general department thought that now with his two next opponents out of the way there was nothing to fear but the girl at the end. Maribel's quirk was elusive, and she was sound at picking up on small details, he'd have to be careful not to tip her off. He had nothing against her, being more friendly with her than the rest of her class even if only for her accepting demeanor. But he still wanted to make an impression.

Jurota Shishida had not taken an eye to the fight, so much as he did to Shinso. He knew he had used his quirk in some way on him, but he didn't know what the quirk exactly did. Memory erasure, mind control, how did it work? He insisted on being cautious.

His classmates had lost in the face of 1-A, and he couldn't afford to make 1-B look worse than someone from an entirely different department. It would be too much of a shame.

* * *

Both the fighters had taken the stage.

 **"Mysteriously, the only one from the general department to have made it here. Hell, the only one from any non-hero class! It's Hitoshi Shinso!"**

Shinso ran a hand through his hair to make it look a little better. "I don't really feel bad about forcefully putting you on our team, did you see what happened to the rest of 1-B? Merry-san wouldn't have been so nice to you."

 **"The only survivor of class 1-B, with the quirk of a beast, can he win it all for his class!? It's Jurota Shishida from the Hero course!"**

"Don't be so casual abo-o...!" Jurota trailed on his words as his eyes widened and his mind went blank. The brainwashing quirk had taken effect.

 **"Sixth match, start!"**

"Get over here!" Shinso yelled, and Jurota singlemindedly started running toward him. Once he was close enough that Shinso wouldn't have to speak loudly. "...And punch and miss me."

He reared his fist forward and swung into the air next to Shinso, who moved to the side leisurely, knowing it wouldn't hit. Jurota slowed down a little after running past him, only for Hitoshi to pat him on the back. "...Run out of the ring."

The command took effect, and his opponent ran out of the ring. Unceremoniously. His opponent lost shortly after.

 **"Shishida-san! Ringed out! Hitoshi Shinso** **advances to the second round!"** Midnight swung her whip, delivering the victory to he who had achieved it.

Not even smiling, but giving Shishida an odd look.

 **"...It was a little bit of an uneventful battle, but Hitoshi Shinso maintains the same mysteriousness he had in the cavalry battle! How the hell did he win this?! Amazing, is what I'd call it."**

"Hmph." Shinso grinned for no particular reason, and then turned around to walk back out of the arena. Once far away enough and closer to the exit, he snapped Shishida out of it.

It was as if time stopped for Shishida as he tried understanding what the hell happened. He was talking one moment, and the next he was standing outside of the ring. Scouting his surroundings quickly, he couldn't help but curse under his breath. He took the defeat with shame and walked out of the arena.

* * *

A being of pure shadow clashed against acid. The mobility of Mina was useless against the superior one of Dark Shadow, and her means of attack couldn't seem to deter it all that much. Being that it was made of energy, not matter. It could still take damage, but there was not much to dissolve. In other words, you may as well be throwing water on it.

Tokoyami himself dared not get close to her, he knew how dangerous her quirk could be to someone who couldn't handle such powerful acid.

 **"It seems they've run into a bit of a standoff! But we can't be here forever! So, what will be... THE TIE BREAKER!?"**

After a while of exchanging attacks, Dark Shadow countering every single one. Mina found herself with a lack of options.

"Well, I can't be afraid to try something!" The alien queen announced, and made a charge, secreting acid under her feat to go faster. Dark Shadow didn't move at first. Tokoyami prepared himself to move away from his opponent, and once Mina crossed past Dark Shadow whilst trying to distance herself from it. It moved to the side, the 'umbilical cord' getting in the way of her and cushioning her impact. Dark Shadow roared out and moved behind her, grabbing hold of her and forcing her to the ground.

Tokoyami crossed his arms, leaning his upper body back a little, crossing his legs and looking down on her. He made his voice a little lower than it usually was. "Surrender."

The posture was vaguely likened to that found in some old manga and had a nice charm to it. The crowd seemed to love it, absolutely.

To Mina, he looked very intimidating, and she couldn't do much to fight him with Dark Shadow holding her down.

"O-okay! I surrender!" She said, closing her eyes and putting up both of her palms as a sign of not wanting to suffer any hurt.

 **"Mina Ashido has surrendered!** **Fumikage Tokoyami wins!"**

* * *

 **"Start!"**

"Hryaaah!" Bakugo grunted as he blasted away from his starting position with a series of small explosions. Yaoyorozu was nowhere near as fast as she was, so she didn't try wasting her time with moving. In one hand, she created a shield of explosive resistant material. Exactly what she'd used during the last round. In her other hand, she created an iron bo-staff.

From the distance, Maribel watched intently.

There was no time to think of any explicit strategy. That had to be done before the battle, lest one be mired down by stray thoughts. In this sense, Yaoyorozu was at a disadvantage. Smart as she was, Bakugo had a greater sense of fighting. Muscle memory and on the fly adaptation were both factors that went to him.

Heaving the admittedly heavy shield up in front of her, Bakugo headed straight for it. He knew a couple of things. She couldn't attack through the shield. If she thought her shield worked against his quirk, she'd feel safe for a moment, and after that she would think of an effective counterattack. Her movements were far from as coordinated as his.

"Take this, sweets-gobbler!"

Angling the palm of his hand to face down at the shield from a 150 degree angle, Bakugo hit the effective shield with a moderately violent explosion. Tiring out the arm that held it, and to a degree the rest of her body. At the same time, Bakugo flew up and above her, now slower and with free time to strike.

Timing was crucial, and he knew it well. So whilst he was upside down, Bakugo's hand turned as best they could to face her while they both pointed in the same direction. Both of his hands erupted in fierce fire and smoke, sulfuric smell invaded her nose and the shockwave landed right on her. Knocking Yaoyorozu down onto her side and out of the ring while tossing Bakugo back into it.

"Hyah!" She yelled out, the battle was sudden, and there had been mere seconds for her to act.

 **"Yaoyorozu-san! Ringed out! Katsuki Bakugo advances to the second round!"**

He spent a second stabilizing his fall before landing. Knee first to handle the fall better with a much thicker bone and over a wider area. Smiling in glee at no one, he was happy. He would beat everyone and be number one.

* * *

Maribel has been very mellow since her fight with Iida. She told Kaminari that she was fooling him so that the match wouldn't drag. Maribel talked a little with Ochaco after the girl's fight with Midoriya, trying to learn how she felt about it. The blonde also made sure to avoid dragging the freckled boy himself into the conversation. Apparently, she was fine with it. It might've stopped her from achieving her dream and getting the publicity that she wanted to help her parents, but she'd have to live with it. Besides, she knew Midoriya didn't do it out of malice, but because he has his own dream.

"You're only bringing this up because of the fight with Iida-kun, right?"

"...That's right."

"It's alright to feel guilty about it, just know he forgave you, okay?"

"Even so, I want to make it up to him somehow."

"Well, that's fine and all. But don't let it linger too much. Besides, aren't you supposed to be fighting Midoriya-kun now?"

"Oh."

Lost in thought, Maribel had barely realized the match was over. But when she did, she let out a breath and shot to her feet. Stretching and then looking around. Midoriya was also beginning to move from his seat and gave her one look. It was sympathetic, but Maribel didn't want to share the sentiment, she'd rather forget it and only exchanged him a stern expression.

The blonde journeyed from the spectator seats and over to the entrance to the halls. She would avoid Midoriya before they both went into the arena, but the same couldn't be said for a passerby.

Iida had returned from his short stay at Recovery Girl's office. In comparison to Midoriya's treatment of his finger, it took a bit longer. A rib is a bigger bone, after all. Maribel didn't get to think much about why he was there, too surprised to put that train of thought on her mind. He looked friendly, but at the same time quite serious.

"A-ah!"

"Oh! Maribel! There are you are! I just wanted to tell you that I'm alri-"

"Later Iida!" The girl energetically let out, absorbing some of his own characteristics and shifting to the side like a robot, side-stepping past him and jogging down the hall he came from. Toward the entrance to the arena.

 _If I want to create a convincing fight, this isn't going to be an easy battle! I'll ignore anything he says and force him to fight logically, put me in a pinch if he likes it. I don't care if he has All Might's quirk or some knock-off! I'll win!_

* * *

 **And now I am free to dedicate an entire chapter to a big and longer fight. I should've written this sooner, but I've been procrastinating a lot.**

 **That said, Maribel is likely going to be a bit more distant from Iida now. I made that clear in her introspection, which will be a very important part of her character arc later.**

 **As for the fights this chapter, well, I didn't have a grand plan for them. And I feel that for example, Ochaco's strategy would work very well against Izuku, Midoriya knows her quirk, and while she isn't uber fast it's not like Midoriya is used to his speed. One wrong move, he floats away and attacks, flies out of the arena.**

 **Well, anyway, I'm gonna try to be faster with the next chapter.**


	26. Chapter 24: Izuku vs Maribel

Toshinori Yagi looked toward the field from his teacher-exclusive spectator seat. This was a very important match, in part because it was his own mediocre teaching put against his own teaching. But, the real reason why this was an important match was because of Midoriya and his challenger, the fighters themselves. He had asked Midoriya to take up the mission to show the world that he is here. Something that had now come into conflict with Hearn's quest, to show the media that the villains she fought were no joke. Shifting blame and critique to the resources being invested in the school.

Contrary to what she had been told, Nezu had more plans than merely convincing the media. They were tools for negotiation. When they understood what All Might had come to realize about her, they would know how badly they needed more heroes. More security, better measures.

There is a lot that the school can afford, but its funds are not infinite. If they are to preserve the peace, they need to show they have the capability to keep everything safe. Even the schools.

Her adaptation, deadliness, versatility, reactions, speed and remarkable physical strength for a student of that age were what Nezu mostly wanted people to take in. And having understood the changes to her quirk registry, he also wanted to, less so, show how easily she snaps. Just like she did at the incident at U.A. The invading villains did not receive much mercy from her, but even then, she still lost.

All Might frowned as he thought about the last part. It sounded malignant when thought of. But the Principal made it sound far less so, this would be the consequence of her fighting a frustrating opponent, which would likely come sooner or later. When the hero really thought about it, he couldn't find much bad in it, but he couldn't shake that it was mean in some way.

Especially since she was facing someone he knew she didn't like.

His sight sharpened as the young hero and heroine walked out from the opposite ends of the arena field. The crowd kicked into full gear, shouting, likely thousands of eager eyes locked with them both and the screens.

Among Toshinori's eyes, there was another pair, those of a rather mysterious spectator.

* * *

Carefully digging the tip of her teeth into the cotton candy, she held between her index and middle finger. Kasen tore off a small piece and hastily devoured it.

"Hm?" She hummed and directed her eyes first toward the girl. Wondering if she would put any of her tricks to use.

She hadn't instructed her much, there wasn't really time. Another part of her wanted to see her struggle, to know if she was worthy the knowledge. But the pink-haired girl was gratified with what she had hinted at. Maribel Hearn would have to learn to channel her supernatural power through her body to bolster it. Learn to use it as part of herself and perhaps lash out with it.

 _If she's great enough, she may forego the exhaustion, too._

Kasen's eyes wandered to the other combatant. A boy, shorter than the girl, a bit more muscular but nothing spectacular by his mere image. He hid a great reserve of power. She could discern it. Any youkai could, to an extent. There was a limit to how well one could feel, but in open air, it wasn't all that troubling.

 _So he's like All Might?_

She leaned back a little and watched with a keen eye.

* * *

Neither of them knew what was more deafening, the crowd, Present Mic or the wind blowing into their ears in the gigantic arena.

 **"I have a feeling that this will be a match to remember! Both hailing from the hero course..."**

Maribel had a glare as cold as a Siberian winter wind as she gazed thoughtfully across the field. Her unreasonable anger lacking rationale, but feeling justified in spite of it.

 _If he really is as timorous as I think he is, now is the time to confirm it!_ _I won't let someone like that get the better of me, in a fight or anytime else._

 **"She took second place in the obstacle course and did her best against the villains at USJ. And now, she is back to prove her worth once again! MARIBEL HEAAAAARN!"**

The girl brought her palms up to her flowing hair and gently ran her fingers through it. A breeze blowing right into her face just in time to send her four red ribbon-tied blonde locks majestically flowing in the wind. Balling her hands into fists, unusual power coursed through every nerve, and thereafter her muscle. An unending tenseness on her face.

* * *

 **"And he who took third in the race! Her own classmate and quite a physical powerhouse! IZUKU MIDORIYAAAAAAA!"**

Midoriya walked up the stairs and into the arena. His fists were clenched, and he was prepared to activate One For All, intent on honing it to a state where he could keep it active for more than a short period and its percentage perfectly in his control. He knew he could win if he played things right, and early enough with the ideal timing, so that wasn't what he was most concerned with.

His true vexation was what he desired to do. Mend his relationship with Maribel, somehow. It was quite hard as he had scarcely grasped what he had done wrong.

Part of him was eager and part cowardly. He knew very well she would dislike him even more for trying to help her. It couldn't be helped that he desperately wanted to discover what troubled her so. It was simply in his nature. He could be intrusive, yes, he knew that. But breaking the ice was a good way to make things easier for people, was it not?

 _Unless it is it too personal to talk about. Like my connection with All Might. I need to decide! What should I do?_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 **"Will they be force the best out of each other!? Only one way to know! STAAAART!"**

Midoriya's eyes narrowed. _I've seen her fight, I believe... she'll come from behind!_

Maribel briefly stood on her heels.

Then, a gap enveloped the girl in a visual instant, shifting location her in the process. Midoriya's body began to shine faintly as green lightning erupted around him. He spun on his heel, to find himself staring right at her as the gap closed around her. He didn't have the time to spew a word in this opening second of the fight. However, if he used One For All to stay in the fight, he would. Aiming to jab with his left fist, he halted his spin with his right foot and drove recklessly his arm forth. The air howled between the two as the girl pivoted on her left heel and swung her hand up just before his hand. Her movement wasn't all that impressive to Midoriya in the state he was in right now. Timing was what made the difference between the two.

A threatening grimace was plastered over the girl's face.

In front of Midoriya's fist, a gap opened up, the inside of it a weird twisting of light leading just past where the fist was heading. It shot onto his hand, fitting itself around him like some sort of flesh eating worm and then squeezed. Hard enough to terribly hurt, but not enough to injure. Suddenly, the gap began an intense dragging, sending Midoriya into a swing against his will. The girl exploited her gap to swing the boy in a half-circle, both of their eyes meeting each other in the moments all of this was occurring. Time slowing to what seemed like a crawl for them both.

 _What the-...!_

The young inheritor of One For All thought. Stopping any other thoughts as he had felt a moment of genius. He had little control over his quirk, but what he had managed to use let him catch glimpses he normally wouldn't.

 _The space that she was using, it led right in front of her! I'll try..._

His expression changed from surprise, to confidence. As he began to finish the half-circle, Maribel started looking bothered, but Midoriya acted faster than her suspicion could keep up. His thumb and index finger touched each other, a nail gently digging into the soft side of his thumb. Those fingers erupted in a blaze of light, and Maribel's eyes shifted. The gap seemed to bubble as his overwhelming power became that much more intense.

 _...12%!_

Out from the other end of the gap came a rush of wind. It was an opening Maribel had neglected not due to lack of trying, but to make the attack speedy. She did not believe anyone would abuse that kind of weakness, at least, not so quickly.

The girl enjoyed not a breeze, not a storm, but something more akin to a thrust. A narrow hole funneled the wind into a tiny point, making the exit particularly violent as it impacted her chest.

"Hrrnh!" She paused, the gap proceeded to spit out Midoriya's fist. His momentum was still sustained, thus sending him rolling until he caught himself on his feet. One For All deactivated after. As if on cue, Maribel was knocked back more than a couple of meters, and off of her feet too. Landing on the arena floor with a soft thud. "-Kuh..." She spat, quickly pushing off of the ground with one arm into an upright position. The girl felt the place where she was hit with her hand, only to see that it was okay, and then fiercely locked eyes with Midoriya. It was hard to tell if she felt any pain from it, Midoriya shed a drop of sweat. He knew this would be a tough fight.

 _That should've hurt..._

 **"Already we've got quite the N-I-C-E A-C-T-I-O-N!"** The english teacher announced over the speakers. Both of the fighters ignored it completely. But the spectators all cheered.

They stared at each other, Midoriya communicating far less viciousness. Simultaneously, it seemed that the girl was doing a good job of containing it. Then, she began walking toward him.

With his strangely soothing, youthful and outreaching voice, the boy tried talking to her again. "You have something important to keep from others, don't you?!"

She didn't stop walking, maintaining a threatening body language, but she did speak. "Is that so?"

Sidestepping her passively aggressive retort, he continued. "Even if you don't want to talk, and you don't have to, why are you angry at me?! I don't want you to be!"

The girl paused in her walk and stood straight, taking a breath, looking pacified for a moment. There was a sliver of time where Midoriya would be allowed to talk.

"Is it just because of how I am?!" He spoke out to her, not afraid to speak from the heart.

Maribel gradually turned to the side with an unchanging face. Then, she burst into a stance, followed by a spinning motion as she raised her leg. Midoriya was distracted by her apparent betrayal of trust and did not think to activate his quirk in time to counter. Her vicious kick flew through a spontaneously created gap and struck him in the face with her shin. "Gngh!" He yelped as he was struck, bloodying his nose and knocking him back. He grasped it in hurt. The girl shifted the leg back into position, stomping down and looking at him again. She started walking leisurely in his direction, and he lift up one hand to fight whilst the other held his bleeding nose.

Even though bloodied and almost dazed, he still talked. A few tears streaming down the side of his face, likely from pain. "Ah-ow! ...I-is it because of how YOU are?!"

She stopped again and sighed impatiently, as if she was releasing fumes. No longer so intent on hiding her contemptuous anger, it was her turn to talk. Their dialogue wasn't all that loud, it was just one where desperate outreach and unpleasant memories clashed. Her delivery was cold, intent on keeping their brief conversation low.

"You keep acting like a scared kid whenever you aren't caught in a moment to be a hero. Have you even had any friends before attending this school? Why do you let Bakugo push you around? It's pathetic."

It was a relentless barrage of questions that Midoriya couldn't find the answer to, at least not in the heat of battle. The girl broke into a full sprint, not sweating, not panting. It was odd to look at, but Midoriya had to think rapidly. He tensed his muscles and activated his quirk, green lightning coursing through him as he felt like he settled at a particular number.

 _5%._

His entire body crackled, and the girl finally got close enough to attack. Initially, her attack was obvious, a jab with her left.

With increased reaction speed, Izuku began to think. _Usually, she follows up an attack with a warp gate, so if she wanted to hit me, she wouldn't be so close. Iida told me that she seemed to get sick by overusing her quirk. But already? It didn't take this quick when I saw her during All Might's class!_

 _Come on... 17%!_

His bones started hurting, almost cracking under the pressure, but this was all just for a mere moment. He shot forth, and it was like time became a snail's crawl for the two of them.

Slowly, Maribel's eyes turned to track him, widening in surprise as he moved quite rapidly. Not the fastest she had seen, but faster than she could move to respond to. Those faintly glowing orbs of hers grew in surprise as he traveled closer and closer. Aiming for her face, perhaps as petty revenge, perhaps not. She looked...

Terrified.

It made Midoriya reminiscence...

...

 _"...It reminded me of Noumu's death blow. Sometimes it comes back to me, and when it does and my quirk is active, it flips a switch in my head."_ Explained she.

 _"I won't do it again. I promise."_ Said he.

...

...

Weaving his fist downwards, Midoriya came awfully close to landing a blow in her stomach. A high-pitched hiss became apparent to him just then, and a blast of wind burst out from the side. Hard to see, as the originating gap would be flat to him in how it was placed. After his passing, it made mysterious ripples in the air and ceased to be, very unlike how she usually got rid of them. His hand was blown a slight bit to the side and he instead stepped forth to strike the air right next to her, almost off-balance. A cloud of dust reaching far behind her was kicked up by his attack. Cracks appeared as it struck right into the stone and deflected off of it.

Midoriya felt his control of One For All slip, and a jolt of pain resulted. The quirk deactivated due to the surprise this wrought. In his moment of weakness, Maribel glanced back in stressful bewilderment at the dust cloud and then back to him. She stomped firmly into the ground and through a gap, right onto his head. Not delving her foot all the way to the ground with him, but knocking him over, nonetheless.

 **"And Midoriya-san goes down! Get up you! You can do it!"**

The girl felt like smiling smugly, but there was something in her heart.

A few drops of sweat ran down her forehead, born purely from her shock. She ran her eyes across the spectator seats for a moment.

* * *

The crowd talked, a lot. There was nothing she could make out among them, but the thought of her not knowing their opinion scared her.

 _What if everyone watching catch onto how I feel? They wouldn't be so receptive to me anymore, no doubt._

 _Is it worth being like this because he acts like that?_

 _It seems he's trying to make the best out of himself, why do I have a problem with him?_

 _I don't need to be angry to win and be satisfied._

 _Ultimately, am I not just ill-treating him for reminding me of myself?_

 _Damn this quirk..._

She was stressed in some way. The emotional pressure of the audience's watchful gaze, combined with her reason for being this harsh in the first place made her feel abhorrently guilty. It might be none of them knew anything about their personal quarrel, but she couldn't shake the paranoia. She knew it was petty and frankly childish of her to look at him this way. And she didn't know what to blame, herself, her quirk or him.

Maribel Hearn carefully removed her metal-soled shoe from him and gently kicked him as he haphazardly crossed his arms on the ground to defend himself.  
"All Might likes you, doesn't he? Then get up."

As if on command, he shot up and stumbled back a little to make distance from her. Holding his bloody nose for a moment, which had almost stopped bleeding. There was a slight wound from her attack to his head, but nothing substantial. A scraping at worst. His eyes were stern, and he was on guard.

In comparison. Although her lustrous hair was a little messy thanks to the wind and the passing of Midoriya's energetic attacks, it kept its consistency thanks to her colorful ribbons. There was no visible damage to her but a red, wet spot at chest-level under the standard uniform that they both wore. It told Midoriya all he had to know, his initial attack had hurt.

...

...

...

Breaking the ice, the boundary girl started talking, close enough to be in person. It seemed that she had calmed, although the underlying vexation with him persisted in her tone.

"Midoriya-san."

His brows softened.

"Just me fight me seriously. Right now, I don't care about dialogue."

"That's for later."

She showed him a smile and raised her eyebrows, presenting him with the idea that she had totally changed moods. The idea that she'd talk to him later. Truly though, it was a lie, she wanted him off of her back. Even if she felt guilty.

That was all she said, Midoriya was slow to come with a response just then and couldn't come to find one before she walked backward. Creating a five-meter space between them.

Confounded by her sudden twist of attitude, Midoriya's face cycled through an emotion of satisfaction and then confidence. Entering a stance most befitting of someone with All Might's quirk, he was ready to initiate the fight for real. The actual fight.

Izuku felt he had won, in a sense. With both of his arms raised in front, he roared out his challenge. "COME AT ME WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT!"

She scoffed and entered a stance of her own. It was extremely likened to Izuku's, quite the telling similarity. No doubt as to who had trained them.

The girl tilted her head a little to the right side and mentally prepared herself. She'd look more friendly and trustworthy to him that way. Small details like these are what made people tick.

 _If I fully intended to, I could defeat him at any point by relocating him out of the arena with a gap, therefore causing a ring out... Even so, I wouldn't. The Principal wanted me to show the people and the media my ability to fight, not my ability to succeed within these arbitrary rules._

 _And even so..._

 _But I'm not so sure I could do that anymore. Each time he powers up his... or All Might's quirk near any of my gap, it buckles and becomes extremely burdensome to maintain. This might be more difficult than I hoped for._

With a deep breath, she knew the time had come. Now, there would be an actual fight.

* * *

 **"Seems like that was just the first act! Well, let's give it up for the second one, who will take it home!?"**

A glint of light reflected in her purple eyes. _Earlier, he expected me to come from behind. If I multitask, I might be able to throw him off and land a powerful strike. I think it's about time I exhibited the destructive side of my quirk._

And another in a set of green pupils. _Her mobility has me beat, even with One For All. That doesn't mean I can't pressure her at a high percentage. I'll force her to confront me up close._

Maribel did not retain good focus on fighting at the moment. Her reactions were precisely on point and she had adequate training, but that would only become fully effective in a state of flow. Extreme focus, a human ability to act almost without thinking. Something you had to work yourself into. Substituting what almost amounted to unlocking one's present potential had to be actual plans.

Flipping a switch in her mind, she fluently created a gap between places high in the air, turning it into a border space the size of a big truck.

 _I'm open right now, so I have to divert his next action._

Midoriya started to shine softly as a tendril of green lightning ran across his body.

 _5% for the body, 10% for the arm!_

"Detroit Smash!"

He aimed and let loose with his quirk. The wave of air parted everything before it. Dust from his previous attack was kicked up and scattered. The wave produced a clean hole through the thin layer of cement dust, in the middle of which he could see his opponent. That meant his aim was precise.

It was hard to divert a ton of attention from her border space, but Maribel created another gap to her side and moved it to take her through. Too quick for her to move away from with her legs. The gap took Hearn out of the way of his attack, to the left of it. Izuku flowed his arm back into place and his stance, about to swing again. Split-second actions and movements like these made the fight almost a blur to any ordinary watcher.

Clenching his muscles, he began training with his quirk in the heat of combat, spiking its output in moments to prevent any sustained damage.

5%... 10%!

Another jab, another shockwave. "Detroit... Smash!"

She looked fierce again, on guard. Midoriya knew she'd do something and was ready to counter in close combat if need be, pulling back his fist into position. As the wave of air was about to pass halfway, Maribel moved one entry gap down in front and destroyed the back of it as quickly as she could. The speed at which it forced its way back into the atmosphere sent the air colliding with her opponent's attack. Blasting right through it with its intense but short-lived pressure. Dust previously sent soaring around the arena washed over Midoriya, which meant he couldn't see.

 **"Look at all that destructive power!"**

 _A quick strike from above._

Maribel remember and felt exactly where he was, thanks to her quirk, so her next plan was to deliver a powerful hit. The boundary girl performed a standing jump and flew right down and through a gap. Dropping just above the fading dust cloud and plunging into it as if diving from a cliff into the sea.

But suddenly, the cloud of dust burst away with enough force to suspend her in the air for a couple of moments. Using One For All, Midoriya had made his fist the source of a dust-clearing air blast.

 _I can feel it clearly now. That must be All Might's quirk. Not some descendant, it's not different. What the hell? How is it possible to have the exact same quirk?_

The girl pondered as she flew through the air, she was in a bit of disbelief if she was honest. But now was not the time to get lost in emotional thought. Attention shifted to the ground, and Maribel used her quirk to create a gap in the way of her fall.

Almost like a trampoline, the girl flew into the air again, this time only three meters off of the ground. She spun around and then proceeded to land with her chest facing down. Legs and hands barely having time to position themselves. "Gnh..." She grunted and stood up, a little slowly.

 _I can't lose him!_

Maribel had been confused by her landing. Looking around and hearing clear footsteps, she attempted to find Izuku. Turning around just in time to find him right behind her.

 _20%!_

Gritting her teeth, the girl pushed forward and put her hands onto his shoulder, pushing off of Midoriya to evade his blow. His fist brushed against her outfit as she narrowly dodged it, tearing off the fabric of her uniform's shirt around her stomach. Just by passing.

She stopped her momentum and glared down at the shorter person. Smashing her right palm against his head and attempting to use his own velocity to swing him feet-first into the air. "HIYAA!" The girl yelled on instinct.

Part-way, Izuku swung his mighty fist to the side and the intense force impacted her in the same place that he brushed past earlier.

Interrupted in the middle of her attack, her yell turned to a gasp as she was tossed far back, flying. Meanwhile, Midoriya landed on his back and heaved himself up at a record pace.

 _I'm going to be ringed out!_

She thought, her head was spinning and it was difficult to think.

Maribel swung her hand to the side, putting an odd stop to her spinning in a way even she was confounded by. There was no lingering on that, however, as she created a gap behind her that transported her forward. The girl flew through the gap and landed on her feet, metal soles grinding and screeching in the process. Hearn leaned forward as best she could in order to counteract the momentum with her weight, and eventually stopped her movement. Briefly, she turned to the side and stretched one leg back, smaking her still without compromising her balance.

Close. Her inner voice spoke again, there was a five-meter gap between her and the edge of the arena. Maribel had no idea how much power he was using, but she had seen him use more at other times.

 _Must be dangerous if he does._ She looked down at her chest, part of her shirt and undershirt had been torn to pieces. Her midriff and her side were now more easily visible, badly bruised by Midoriya's connecting blows and the bleeding from the match's first now became more apparent. She looked back at Izuku and saw he was in a charge, already halfway to her and in the middle of the arena. Shining brilliantly with the power of his quirk.

 _Even if he doesn't get to me, it'll still give me less breathing room!_ She thought and began to sprint as fast as she could, too. Maribel used her quirk to pull open a gap just next to Midoriya and jumped up. He was about to stop and respond, but she was a little bit too unpredictable, her feet came out first and collided with the side of his face. Making him stumble to the side with nary a bruise on his cheek, his quirk had prevented heavy damage. To land, she bent her legs down just before she landed. She wasn't stable at all, but avoided falling by swinging herself to the side and moving to stabilize herself after that.

 **"Midoriya's quite tough."** Aizawa commentated.

Both she and Midoriya had a fierce staring contest as they recovered from both blow and imbalance. There was a feeling they both shared, a thought. _I feel like this is the match point!_

Slashing through the boundaries, Maribel opened one gap, clearly visible to them both. It led just behind Midoriya.

He sharpened his eyes and glanced behind himself, about to move. _She won't expect me to pull her out of it!_

 _Known unknowns! He fears the attack and will aim to interrupt it._ The girl thought, staring cold-eyed at him as her fist began to move toward the gap. He spun around more rapidly than she herself could fight, swinging at the gap and causing it to bubble. Passing so close to it with his quirk sorely vexed her, it was almost like hitting those gaps hit part of her. She pulled her fist back, letting go of the gap and causing it to cease existing. Midoriya stopped looking where the gap was and turned his head slowly to her in confusion. Even with his quirk, he wasn't as used to combat like this.

 _And with a split second extra to act, for him to turn back to fight me, I'll attack!_

Burrowing through space with her fingers, Maribel seamlessly created a gap, flowing into the action almost naturally. Positioned a meter away from his head to avoid being disrupted by his quirk. It took only a moment for her to hit Midoriya right into the side of his head as hard as she could. But for some reason, he didn't budge, she saw no damage and Midoriya barely even shook. No, he didn't even bother looking at her.

Midoriya had almost selfishly decided to ignore Maribel when the circumstance allowed it, because he felt very little. Full Cowling at 8%, hurting and hard to keep at a consistent level, was enough to turn a hard hit into a soft slap.

 _Even at just this percentage, she's having trouble... Even if we should try our best, even if this is a fantastic opportunity to get some experience... I shouldn't toy with her! 5%!_

Enlarging the hole, she had created, she moved it past her and effectively teleported behind Midoriya. Hearn began striking him repeatedly from behind straight in the head, ruffling his hair. Landing three super fast hits before her opponent spun around and grabbed her arm. Now, he looked serious, not angry.

The fight had worked her into a bad mood as it went on, even though she had tried removing such an attitude from her mind. Instinctively, she tried to yank herself out of his grip to no avail. Trying to kick herself away from him, only dragging him a little bit along before he stopped.

 _I've gotten carried away!_

It happened for only a moment, but Maribel panicked and tried to bash Midoriya right in the face. But without the aid of her more advanced techniques, there was no hope in damaging Midoriya with his guard up. Those were supposed to be weapons that Maribel didn't want to bring out until even later matches. Maribel's mental state had caused her a of misfortune.

8%!

His other hand took a hold of her arm. Setting his left leg down to the side, the future hero, Deku kicked his right off of the ground and began a spin. "RAAAAAAGH!" He roared as best he could, in the vein of Kacchan and threw Maribel to the other end of the arena field. The girl spun with a diagonal trajectory, hitting the ground with a thud and a pained grunt.

A few more drops of blood now littered the cement.

* * *

Once again, only a few meters away from the edge of the arena. Gradually pushing herself into a standing position, the girl didn't bother breathing. Running her fingers through her hair, she pulled it all back. Delivering a glower to Midoriya, who looked prepared to charge again.

 _Always the same distance! HE KEEPS DOING THAT!_

 _...Is he toying with me?_

 _It might be he just wants to learn to use his quirk... In that case, I shouldn't even give him a breath to do it._

Midoriya began making several leaps in short succession, he looked unused to his speed, but it didn't prevent him from moving swiftly toward her.

"Grr..." She grit her teeth.

In a tantrum, Maribel held her hand out and opened a gap a few meters above her. It aimed down at Midoriya and the field, and it made him pause for a moment. Gaps in space always had two points of entry, as far as Maribel was concerned. The second one was on the opposite end of the field. Both grew a little in size before she expanded the space inside.

Like turning on a vacuum cleaner, a howl of the wind, exactly like that of a powerful gale began pulling at Midoriya from behind and in front. He hadn't made it far enough to be pulled up into either of the gaps, but that wasn't her plan. Damage to the arena had created pebbles, rocks and dust. She'd use some of the advice snipe lent her and repay him for the first attack this match, just harder. Nothing could break the expression she wore right now.

Inchmeal, the boundaries broke apart, as she carefully returned the fabric of space to normal.

 **"W-what? It looks like Maribel's gaps are disappearing, but why?!"**

The crowd made a sound of worry, they were definitely talking about what was happening.

Overextending her quirk while in a single area, repeatedly and on a large scale, would inevitably make it hard to manipulate it. That's because the boundaries become weakened. It's like how Doremy explained the boundary between real and dream world. If she continued, the attack would fail inevitably and remove any means of her fighting with it for at least twelve minutes.

There was no thought to be made, now. She was out of options, angry and reluctant to use any of her new tricks on Deku. Arrogance or strategic thinking had led her into a corner.

So, with nothing left to do, she put one leg forth. Pushed and started to run straight ahead at her opponent.

Present Mic became wilder, and so did everyone watching. **"Maribel's heading straight for him, is she about to fight him up close!?"**

Midoriya's eyes widened in puzzlement, and he merely stood there. His quirk active, with the boy trying to keep it active at 5%.

"Why did you stop?"

It didn't take long for her to cross the twelve-meter distance between them, where upon her first instinct was to prepare a fake-out. Pulling her right fist inwards and moving her legs into position for the her supposed hit.

"H-hey!" Midoriya was quick to raise his left arm to block it, confident in his abilities. But that strike would never come. Instead, Maribel quickly shifted on her right foot and sending a left hook into the side of Midoriya's head, before he could move his hand into position. He grumbled, but it was largely ineffective.

"Gyah!" She knew he was resilient, but battering someone in the head would at least be irritating. Hearn decided to then dodge his next attack preemptively, putting her right foot down rather hard and facing Midoriya with her side.

"HRAH!" Came his reprisal from the arm he tried to block with. This is what Maribel had relied on to make dodging him easier. Despite his incredible speed, she could buy precious split-seconds by making his fist take longer to travel. First, the right foot pushed off of the ground with considerable power and then her left one too. Making her jump just a little to the side again and nimbly avoiding any glancing hits.

The boundary girl had almost moved behind Midoriya's original position.

She was a little slow to wind up another hit. The girl weaved to the side and tried to sock him in the head again. Even if it didn't do much. It connected, surprisingly, but it left Maribel open to an attack of his. With a swing of his right arm, her extended own limb flew out to the side forcefully.

"Kngh!"

Midoriya groaned in pain for a moment, losing his shine, but then regaining it. This was a tiny tick of time where she could return her arms in place, and barely did so before Midoriya began to pressure her. Hit after hit, she could react to every single one, but not move briskly enough to counter them. Not without overextending her quirk.

A left hook, Maribel raised her bruised and battered arm to counter it. Right hook, Maribel tried to weave to the side, suffering a glancing blow to her hip. It kept going, one to her stomach, another to the elbow.

"Guh-...! Ha-a-a..." She whined as she took the hits.

It was extremely difficult to stand her ground, and she was already forced two meters back within seven seconds.

 _He remembers to avoid the head! There's at least something I can give him credit for. Much appreciated for letting me save my attention. I can use you like a puppet! You don't kick, you punch, and I'll take everything advantage I can get out of you!_

Back then, she asked nicely, but now it was a chance to take back the fight. Maribel brought her arms closer, focusing on her upper body. Shoulders, chest, gut, waist. As his assault continued, his expression stiffened and he looked like he was trying pretty hard. And Maribel stopped being relentlessly pushed, reacting ahead of almost every strike.

The boy himself was now getting irritated, not out of anger, but because he desperately needed to win this.

 _...I'm sorry! But I have to win this! Everyone's giving it everything they've got!_

 _I'm going to have to break two fingers to ring you out!_

Izuku was honestly quite eager to get this over with by now. Increasing his power again, he grabbed his right arm and held it up. Two of his fingers pressed against each other, they both emitted compressed air as his hand passed through the air.

 **"DELAWARE..."**

Approaching thirty percent, his arm made uncomfortable cracking noises only for him to hear. It was hard to dictate how it moved, and it became a blur due to his largely unenhanced reactions. He stopped just before her. A meter from her neck, shoulder and head. This was a mistake, and Midoriya recognized it just too late.

Hypersonic, extremely powerful, anything in front of it would be blow away and out of the arena. His fingers flicked forward.

 **"...SMASH!-..."** He yelled out, about to stop himself mid-word.

There was nothing Maribel could do but stare at the blur that was happening, widen her eyes in surprise and genuine fear, then be blow away.

She screamed as she was sent flying, the massive blast giving her what would almost amount to a minor concussion. But she knew full well what happened, and it reminded her of violent death.

There was only one way to save herself from it all, her quirk, so she used every last ounce of focus she could muster for her next move. Open a gap, open multiple gaps. Maribel flew through many of them just to kill her velocity. Within a few instances, she slowed down enough to land on both feet. While the worst was over, what remained was still enough to almost knock her over. All she could do was hold on until the wind passed. Glancing down told her that she wasn't out yet, but it was hard to tell with the wind forcing her eyes close.

 _WERE YOU JUST TRICKING ME?! AIMING FOR THE HEAD?!_

 _...USE ALL MIGHT'S QUIRK ALL YOU WANT, I'M NOT GOING TO SPARE ANY EFFORT!_

Leaning forward to brace against the wind, Maribel kept her eyes closed and tried to focus her aura to the bottom of her spine.

* * *

Midoriya stood holding his two fractured fingers the seconds after his attack. It hurt like hell. He knew the pain and it was hard to get used to. Normally, since he'd gained more control over his quirk, he'd above going all out. But this was an occasion where it was suitable, if he had gone above thirty, he was sure he'd break them. All or nothing, as it seemed he was too strong for them to be blown off anyway.

Coming to terms with the pain. Midoriya opened his eyes to see the dust, rocks and wind passing by, flying off of the main battlefield. Only one thing stood, his opponent. Just inside the ring.

 **It happened very often when a big crowd was present, a big cheer. This was just the moment for such, as it seemed her continued survival had hyped everyone up.**

 **"HOW IS SHE STILL STANDING?!"**

 _Necro Phantasia - Crossfire Barrage - Crow's Claw_

Fury, rage and animosity was all that was left on her face. Maribel breathed repeatedly, deeply and closed her eyes. The expression on her face became clearly sterner, and Midoriya felt she was more confident now. It was clear she had trouble standing even with the small amount of the wind she still felt. Hearn looked hurt all over. Mostly bruised, but there was clear bleeding on her face and her arms. No doubt from the rocks he'd sent flying.

 _She can't still continue? Can she?_ Midoriya wondered, he was also worried that she would hurt herself even more if she continued fighting.

Looking on over at him, her eyes remained purple. But that wasn't all, an almost mystical aura now spread from Maribel, which Midoriya felt like a midnight breeze. A couple of seconds later and a wind brushed past him, a faint violet shine surrounded her as she stood up straight. This sequence of events was almost finished with a burst of power, as the glow turned into a flame for a moment. Doing away with the wind that had been pushing her completely.

Last, the flame-like aura she was clad in subdued itself to a tight glow around her body. Stomping on the ground hard enough to crack it for meters around, the girl cringed in pain and then pushed forward. No longer running, but gliding. At speed of a jog at first, but then not unlike the suddenness of a passing train, her approach was quick. At a power of five or eight percent, he could only see her properly when she was still.

 _12%!_

She traversed the distance between them in no time. He didn't have much time to think and powered his quirk up again, flying forth with a left strike. But this time, Maribel didn't even look at it. She swerved under it faster than she had traveled and her arm became a blur as it hit his left arm. Even with One For All, it hurt a lot, and Midoriya cried out and almost keeled over. Like usual, he lost control of his quirk and shook in pain. Stumbling back. But he wasn't the only one. Maribel's glow ceased and spilled out around her in tiny strips of energy, only for her to hold herself and clench her teeth in pain. Whining.

An instant later, both of them snapped out of it and threw themselves toward at each other. The girl erupted in the same violet, flame-like aura, the next instant turning into a barely visible light over her body. As if there was a lot of power welling inside her that she was bottling up. Midoriya's quirk presented itself in a similar light. Haphazardly activating as an explosion of faint light, mint-colored lightning coursing around his body and steam erupting off of him. They both met up close once once more, Maribel being the faster to move.

 _...5% ...15%!_

Midoriya decided to strike prematurely to getting close, trying to catch her early. And by all means, he should've hit. Those ghostly orbs serving as her eyes swerved into motion to see where he was aiming. Widening as they did. Centimeters from connecting with her, she moved back, gliding two meters. Then she was outraced by the shockwave of air, but surprisingly, stood her ground. Not even her clothes were torn by the attack, as if some supernatural force had protected it. The boy could only cringe in pain after, his arms sore from the work put on them.

Moving her arms to her face at a breakneck pace, she rubbed her face of some blood and pulled her disheveled hair back into place. Fascinating was the frantic speed at which her arms moved.

Speaking as if it was casual conversation, the girl fancied herself a mild grin of satisfaction. The edge of her lips rising to a fair bit up her cheeks. "I'd rather avoid being pummeled anymore. I'll let you ponder on the fight, as a spectator."

Her arm instantly shifted from her side to a swing. No sound was made, but Midoriya felt himself caught in something. His legs and his torso seemingly separated, but there was no pain resulting from it. Rather, it disorientated him utterly.

 _Wh-_

Maribel walked closer, and he raised his fist despite his odd situation.

 _One, two..._ Just as he was about to attack, she leaped from her position and landed a knee in his gut as an almost-blur. Hearn wasn't gliding, she must've been flying.

"GNAH!" He cried out as he was forced into soaring five meters above the arena. Leaving the gaps behind to break apart thanks to the exhausted boundaries. Maribel landed back on the ground the instant thereafter, as if she was thrust back upon it.

She looked up, cold anger in her eyes, plotting eyes. Though she felt provoked, Maribel no longer contained the same frustration as before. Midoriya used One For All to stabilize his spin while in the air and reared his entire arm back.

 **"DETROIT...!"**

Her eyes sharpened, and she shot out a hand.

Both crowd, teachers and announcers seemed to be getting quite talkative as this occurred.

Stress and eagerness could be found in both their actions, but the girl was subtle about it. Her aura focused itself as if pressured to the tip of her sore hand, a spear. All of it bunched itself up into a hand-sized bullet of energy. Hearing a click in her mind, Maribel shot it straight at Midoriya. Morphing into a beam of shining power. Visible for a quarter of a second, it struck furiously its intended target. There was a car-sized, colored-indigo explosion above the battlefield, with no dust to create smoke. The glowing mass of spiritual power swiftly faded, leaving Midoriya to fall onto the ground.

She followed him with bored eyes and tracked every bit of the fall. Just before, she snapped a gap into existence just below him. Leading out just next to where he was supposed to land, but upwards. Letting him drop into it and 'bounce' up. She destroyed the gaps after that. Causing him to land on the ground with a thud after most of his velocity had died off.

With a sigh of relief, she relinquished control of her aura and experienced a jolt of pain. Closing her eyes and gasping for a moment, after a bit, she took a deep breath. Abandoning the focus on her quirk.

 _Song End_

* * *

Maribel opened her eyes, now golden. Before her laid a broken and battered Midoriya.

 _I got carried away again! Damn quirk! It can never just work practically, there are always these cursed drawbacks..._

In spite of her bleeding, the girl felt as fresh as she was at the start of the fight. Only stressed.

 _I need to calm down._

The girl stretched and straightened out. Crowd quite loud as she did.

 _What will they think? Or the classmates? It's not like I was subtle, the fruits of behavior is right in front of me._

 _...It feels like he asked for it, bringing his fist right up to my face like that. Liar._

 **"Uh..." Midnight paused for a moment, before swinging her whip. "Midoriya is unconscious! K.O! Hearn moves onto the third round!"**

* * *

"Midoriya-shounen!" Toshinori couldn't help but call out as he saw victory being declared. He got off of his seat and moved up to the exit, wanting to meet him as soon as possible and see to it that he recovered.

And somewhere else among the spectators. Still with food in her fingers, the hermit on the other side of the arena couldn't help but comment on it. _She grasps it quickly..._

* * *

Two robots with an attached medical bed moved up the stairwell to the arena with specially designed gear to do so. Rolling over to the two fighters at a brisk pace. Once arrived, they slowed down and shoved the bed under Midoriya and carried him.

They 'spoke' with an eccentric and robotic voice. A message that was written into it, of course. "THE SCHOOL WISHES FOR YOU TO VISIT THE NURSE. FOLLOW US IF YOU CAN."

Absentmindedly nodding, finding herself 'out of it', she began to walk away to where they had come from. And the bed rolled along with her.

* * *

 **Here's some trivia about the chapter.**

 **Midoriya is constantly held back in this fight due to his heart and his own fears. If he had relied on a higher percentage that he'd have a harder time keeping active and didn't focus on punching, or avoiding her head, she would've been down much easier. He's also focused on not breaking anything if he can, if he decided to use a fully powered punch, it would've also been over much quicker if it was up close.**

 **Reading from the reviews, you might also notice that Midoriya is experimenting with OfA already and can control it to an extent. This is a development I've pushed along since chapter 10, and it's mostly hidden in dialogue, at least up until the Cavalry Battle. He has rather sloppy control and even if he's fresh into the fight, usually can't keep 5% going for so long. His controls drops significantly around 10%, and a hard nudge (like Maribel gave him toward the end) can knock him out of it.**

 **Maribel also held herself back, but only as an advantage of future opponents and to allow a good fight where people would see what she could do. Which was what Nezu wanted. If she was serious with any fighter, she could move them out of the ring. Well, unless Midoriya was already coursing with power. I'd intended to get into why OfA interacts strangely with her gaps, but that's for later.**

 **Power-wise, Maribel with this power-up is very fast and much more mobile than a lot of characters. Midoriya would need to be close to 15% to consistently react to her, though he could still do it at a lower and more manageable level. Her melee attack power is much less, but she makes up for it with another thing. Forming her spiritual power into a spear, or a bullet, she can now do Danmaku. Congratulations. She's new to it.**

 **In Touhou, there isn't such a thing as focusing aura (at least in the way I've constructed it). But for this story, I've created some mechanics for it in order to give some sense to both human and youkai being able to act like they do. Some do it naturally, some don't. I'm aware that there is references to aura and spirit in Touhou, and that's generally what I'm aiming for. As Maribel gets better with it, the mechanics of it will fade from the story.**

 **I have no idea if what I've written is adequate, and honestly I don't feel as if I figured out their strategies well enough. They're both largely inexperienced and act on impulse.**

 **As for the narrative behind battle, I felt like having Maribel find dislike in aspects of herself and feel guilty was something I'd have to do. Truthfully, she wants to become a better person, but her quirk and some of her own pride is an obstacle to that.**

 **With that, I hope people find at least some satisfaction. Next are some less important matches, and then the final stretch on the arc.**


	27. Chapter 25: One For All

Sophisticated robots with a screw-attached bed expertly climbed the stairs, carefully putting down one wheel after another and imitating a walk cycle. Preventing any rolling by counteracting it with its own motor. It kept the bed relatively steady. Ascending the staircase with all these bleeding wounds she'd gotten is something one would expect to be hard. But Maribel still stood, strangely enough. Dropping her sight to Izuku, she stared at him as much as she liked, which wasn't much.

 _How unlikable... Did he forget? Was he just messing with me? At any rate, now I'm definitely not sure if I want to give him what he desires..._

 _...Nevertheless, I'm troubled that I only feel like this because of my quirk. How do I know it isn't working on me right now?_

 _I just want to be rid of it. Boundary Manipulation is my quirk, but as far as I know, manipulating the energy in my body isn't. If I could discover my quirk factor and do what's necessary, then I could still live normally, just with one part of my power. I'd be content with that, a life I could enjoy with the people I've learnt to know._

 _But was it so easy to do that? No one would be on board with it, anyway. They'd call me crazy and depressed to the point of self-harm... I guess the latter might be partially true at this point._

Taking the final steps up the staircase, the girl suffered a dull pain in her entire body. Midoriya's second finger flick had struck her more like a speeding truck than a blow. It was surprising that she didn't break anything, instead it was like being instantly caught in a destructive tornado. Maribel knew she could've suffered serious injury. But all that really hurt was her sore neck and aching wounds.

 _But would that actually have done anything? I endured fatal injuries before, and I can walk with broken bones..._

 _For how intent on remaining mysterious she is, that god is very intent on keeping me alive._

The two robots began rolling down the hallway in front of her. And turned right at the first intersection they saw. Hearn followed, which lead her right to the excellent nurse's office. For a moment, she heard something in the background and stopped outside the door to listen. Simultaneously, the door was fling open by one of the robot's limb-less arms, and then rolled in. The door was left open for her to walk inside, but she didn't go.

"Come in, come in." Chiyo asked her, but as she didn't do anything, stepped on over to check on her.

The four-way intersection that was right in front of Maribel sounded with quick footsteps, which then slowed down. She felt a clear vibe from this person, although faint. Then, there was coughing.

Chiyo stared at her, befuddled as she only waited outside.

Waiting attentively for a particular person to pass into her view, Maribel took a breath to prepare herself.

A blood-coughing Toshinori placed one hand on the corner of the wall as he came walking by. Panting as he made the final swing on his heel. Unintentionally, he looked up to see Maribel standing there. He most probably knew she'd be here, but not that she'd wait for him in the corridor.

The sight of a man left almost nothing, but a skeleton left the girl somewhat flabbergasted. But she was brisk to regain her normal composure.

Eyes met for a full five seconds. Subsequently, she broke the nervous silence.

"A-a-... All Might?" She said, instantly lowering her brows just a bit as the frail hero's figure reflected in her golden iris. Clearly confused by his fragile state.

"...Hearn-shoujo."

* * *

After the battle, there had been a thin cloud of dust lingering around the battlefield. A lot of it had been blown off to the sides, turning the red floor and some of the grass outside of that rectangle a little whiter.

The battle arena had been freshly constructed by Cementoss with some minor aid from building drones to handle anything not made of cement. It wasn't made to stand after taking heavy hits. It wasn't military-grade materials it was built with. And it most certainly showed, Midoriya's superpower-like quirk had easily cracked the battlefield even while indirectly hitting it. Producing a lot of the dust in the first place. His opponent had a lot of power-focused super moves as well, not utilized directly her quirk, but through a reaction it could make. Together, they had made it all a mess. It seems as though it almost slipped both of them by as the battle went on, however.

There were many talking about it, in workplaces all around Japan, in schools, in the spectator seats. Everywhere. Villains, heroes and civilians all bore their eyes on this event. For good or for bad.

Those of heroic career who had watched it were quite eager to consider the possibility of either of them being interns. Usually, people always jumped on considering interns by the end of the event. But if the heroes recognized the potential in you, then they would completely ignore this rule. Maribel and Midoriya were now both subjects to this phenomenon.

People did not understand the specifics behind their quirks so they hypothesized instead. A powerhouse like Midoriya would be a dream to any hero that focused on close-quarters combat, the girl and her quirk an exciting enigma to make use of. Seeing how capable they were as is made people even more intrigued. For all they did, both of them were just first years. But still, they held such speed, power and a generally excellent sense of on-the-fly strategy.

 **"I wasn't expecting them to be able to take that much punishment."** Eraserhead commented, tapping the table where he sat. His voice clear to hear for the entire stadium. The teachers had more familiarity with the fighters than those who watched, aside from the students themselves, so almost everyone aimed their attention toward the commentary.

When there wasn't a fight about to begin within the next five minutes, Present Mic seemed comparably calm compared to before. **"You've been at a few of their hero lessons, haven't you? I know that's not your usual lesson to be teaching, but..."**

 **"That's right... Though, for Midoriya-san, I don't think that's the reason for such development. Let me tell you a little story..."**

Voicing his okay, Hizashi Yamada nodded. **"Uhuh."**

There was a pause before Aizawa spoke. **"During the villain invasion at USJ, Midoriya-san brought me to safety. On the way back, we were in quite the pinch. You see, before the sports festival. He couldn't quite control his quirk. He had to rely on his own strength to get things done most of the time, he couldn't move rapidly or carry easily. But he still trudged on and got me to safety. Things like that speak of potential. I feel that thanks to the situation and my state, he received a lot more motivation than he usually would've. Now, he's control of his quirk. Even if it's a little inconsistent."**

 **"You're saying that he surpassed his limits by going through all that?"**

 **"Yes... Plus Ultra."** The eraser hero spouted the school motto without enthusiasm. After a minute pause, he continued speaking. **"Merry-san is a bit of a different case. Even back during the incident, she was quite fierce in a fight. A less refined version of what you saw on stage. Even so, she soundly defeated the villains, if it wasn't for their trump card's secret ability. Their invasion was all but over, but we still needed All Might truly end it. The point is, she evolves very quickly during a fight. A prime example is what won her this round. I have never seen her do that before."**

 **"Wait, you don't even know what that was? That's so weird, Eraserhead."**

 **"Well, she never demonstrated it during the training lessons or explained it."**

This commentary slowly became background noise to everything else.

A horned hermit raised her eyebrows upon hearing all of this. Curious. Curiosity that fed a series of ideas.

Eventually, Todoroki's match against Kaminari took place.

* * *

 _So she was hiding her abilities from the class all along? Maribel must be taking the tournament pretty seriously if she's hiding her super moves like this._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _After a bit of thinking, I don't find it to be so difficult to piece together... I know Midoriya-kun, and when she sees Midoriya. She thinks about herself or how she was..._

 _Often, you better yourself as time goes on. Meeting someone on the same steps you were on could just make them repulsive depending on your stance to some things. One doesn't want to be reminded of 'those days'..._

 _You meet someone with a weird hairstyle that you yourself had once, and were ashamed of having. So you tell them that it's a bad hairstyle... It could be anything, looks or behavior._

 _Midoriya is very brave, but he feels like he's only just started building confidence._

 _I don't think she likes that vibe._

 _Thatquirk makesit worse._

Four-eyes lifted his head a little, tilting it just a bit to the side as he looked at Shouto Todoroki. Sitting to down to his left about five meters away, it wasn't hard to get an eye or an ear into what Shouto was doing. Iida knew he'd most likely be able to triumph over Kaminari. Him being the son of the number-two hero and not a pushover. If Midoriya with his crazy power couldn't put Hearn down, he wasn't sure if Todoroki with his quick and sweeping attacks would be good enough either.

Though Iida wasn't there to see, Ochaco had told him the glacier he used had traveled all the way to the edge of the arena instantly.

Todoroki eyed the arena battlefield and the cracks in it, which were now being mended by Cementoss. His eyes seemed lost, as if he was thinking. Most likely pondering on ways to defeat her.

Like a pixel in the corner of his eye, Iida noticed someone else. Even further to the right sat Katsuki Bakugo, who was fiercely eyeing Shouto Todoroki. For a moment, he locked his pupils with Iida's, only to look away to the battlefield with his thoughtful and fierce gaze.

Angry as Bakugo might be, he wasn't to be underestimated in a battle. Since he was technically bested by Midoriya in the battle trial, there had not been a moment where he could show off his combat skill. But what was there told Iida that he had quite a lot of control over his quirk. Although they had different quirks, Katsuki could use his quirk for bursts of speed much like Iida himself could with his leg-bound engines. The ability to control your momentum was quite critical for anyone who focused on mobility. Someone who hasn't practiced with it would be bound to mess up at least once. Maybe even forgetting how to make use of it in a fight.

Then again, Iida himself is a bit of a newbie in this. Even if his brother gave him some advice before he started going to U.A. It wasn't like he was the be-all end-all in this field of skill.

This got him thinking, Hearn's sudden trick had allowed her to move much swiftlier, and it seemed she had at least adequate control over it. But from what Tenya could see, Midoriya's movements on foot weren't quite on the same level as Iida's own. It wasn't much of a measuring stick for Maribel to compare to. Iida had to see her again if he wanted to see how good she was. Maybe he could pass on some of the knowledge that Tensei had taught him.

 _I should go visit them both at the clinic! Preferably myself alone, as I don't think she'd like to talk about Midoriya around if a bunch of us went. Hmm..._

Tenya Iida stood up and started to walk past his classmates on the same row. Asui Tsuyu, Ochaco Uraraka, Momo Yaoyorozu and Kyoka Jirou. Shortly after he had passed them, Uraraka seized his attention. "Hey, Iida-kun."

"A-... Yes?!" He turned around, standing at attention with a straight back and arms at his sides. Typical of him.

"Where are you going?" She asked innocently, the other girls looked at him too.

Scratching the back of his head, he quickly replied. "Well, I was gonna go see Hearn-san."

Seeing Iida respond as if he'd been questioned by a superior officer or something was always funny to see. It didn't seem that anyone minded what he had to say, but Yaoyorozu interjected. "Could I come along? I've got something I want to ask her."

"I'll see Deku-kun as well." Ochaco asked.

It seemed as if everyone on the row was about to go, until Iida cut in.

"A-about that... Me and Hearn had something more private-"

The air shifted, and almost everyone forgot about moving.

Momo was quick to reply. "That's alright, I can just wait outside."

"Me too then..." Ochaco disappointingly let out, she'd have the opportunity later, anyway.

"O-of course. Hehe." He rubbed the back of his head again.

Yaoyorozu got up shortly thereafter and left with Iida into the halls. In the meanwhile, two of the top-dogs sat for themselves, thinking.

"...Fast as she is, it'd be quite difficult to weave out of the path of my quirk constantly. "Murmured Todoroki. Katsuki's listened in, quietly. "There are only so many places she can go on the field, unless she wants to stay just above a ring-out."

The ash-blonde said nothing, only staring at him as he mumbled. Then back at the field, cupping his chin between thumb and index finger.

* * *

"Chances are I'd reveal your secret by accident if you keep me curious." Maribel remarked as Recovery Girl cleaned up a big, bleeding bruise on her right arm and some shallow cuts. She laid on a medical bed, not out of any issue in standing, but to avoid spilling drops of blood on the floor from the various combat injuries.

It seemed like the nurse wasn't interested in interfering with their conversation. So there was a moment of silence between the old hero and the girl student.

"You're right..." Toshinori said seriously, he sat in the middle of two medical beds. Hers and Midoriya's. He had received a quick kiss and treatment from Recovery Girl previously. His wounds were not severe enough to warrant surgery, but he'd have to take a while to recover his energy. Recovery Girl was also going to take a closer look at his finger later. Currently, he was unconscious.

Another pause and Yagi started to explain.

"You see, Hearn-shoujo, my quirk isn't a regular one. It's a quirk passed down to another via DNA. Stockpiling the power of the former user into itself as it is transferred. Before he had it, Midoriya-shounen had been... quirkless. My power is slowly becoming his."

Maribel stared at him as she laid on the bed. Opening her mouth slightly as if she was mildly shocked. At the same time, her brow lowered. "...Then when he can control it, Midoriya would become stronger than you?"

The weakened hero could only nod and hum, assuring that she was correct. "There's a reason I don't tell this to everyone. It'd spell trouble for you and Midoriya-shounen if the wrong person came to know this. So please... never speak of it unless brought up by Midoriya-shounen in private or me."

Shooting right up and straight. In a slightly Iida-like fashion, she then shot to her feet, making the old nurse jump a little. Joining her hands on top of each other just where her thighs began, the student then bowed thirty degrees. "I promise, All Might."

"Ehrm- You don't have to bow..."

"Lay down, young girl!"

Maribel breathed in and straightened again. Plopping herself down onto her bum and then returning to her laying position. It looked like she was having a bit of fun, in contrast to her demeanor during the match. "Right, right..." She sheepishly responded.

Toshinori sighed. "Anyway... Few people know about this. Recovery Girl here, the Principal and some old friends of mine."

Recovery Girl finished touching up on her right arm, leaving it with red scrape wounds, some lacerations thanks to the high-speed rubble thrown about in the brawl. When she arrived, the nurse told her she'd end the procedure with her quirk. The bloodied girl eyed the bruised up limb as she answered. "As I said, I will only talk to you... or him about it."

This pleased Toshinori and he put his hands together as if ending the conversation. "Then this will turn out fi-"

"Also." She interrupted, eager to find some answers. It was as if the old hero had frozen. "You make it sound like someone would specifically hunt Midoriya-san down."

"I'd like to avoid-" The hero stuttered, reluctant to talk about this subject matter. _Then it's personal, most likely._

"As you said, it would be trouble for me too." The girl was very serious about this in particular. This subject matter had made her feel threatened, and she wouldn't leave her safety a footnote. Wiping some blood from her forehead and brow, she spoke with real concern."What happens if I become a target? They might try getting to Midoriya-san through me. How do you expect me to defend myself if I don't know what these mysterious people can do?"

Now, All Might was far more demanding than earlier. As if he was about to break out his muscle form. Even in this weakened form that he had yet to explain, he knew how to command some authority. "Listen, Hearn-shoujo. I'll take some time to think on all of this. But as long you don't think about telling anyone, you and everyone else will be safe."

"...Fine." Maribel scoffed. The nurse began touching up on her right leg. She drew some air into her lungs as she felt a tiny sting of pain. Chiyo's cleaning used a mild solution, so it didn't hurt so much. But it was still touching her wounds. "...Can I at least ask why you aren't as muscly as you tend to be?"

"-Oh, that. When I passed my quirk onto Midoriya-shounen, I slowly started losing some of the fire myself..." He said, coughing a little. And then pausing, bringing two fingers to his chin as he thought.

Maribel looked at him with a mildly irritated set of eyes, having lowered her brow, as if waiting for him to continue.

"And that's that."

The girl leaned her head back and looked to the ceiling. Lost in thought. "...All of this makes me wish-" She sighed. "Nevermind."

There was a pause in the room as the conversation settled for its deathbed. With Toshinori Yagi unwilling to continue, for various reasons and his own gut feeling, and Maribel finding herself preoccupied with this new information.

"What's the quirk called?" She wondered.

"...One For All."

Once again, she stopped talking whilst the nurse began on the left leg.

...

...

...

There was a specific vibe in the air that she felt, an approach from outside the room. Speaking slowly and leisurely, as if it were not her problem, the girl felt it right to tell him something. "Some of my classmates are coming. Probably visiting. If you don't want to be seen like that..."

"It's fine, Hearn-shoujo. I look unrecognizable anyway." He said, dressed in his oddly unfitting yellow-striped suit.

 _And to think he got such a quirk. What a lucky guy... I'd rather have his than mine, but life isn't fair, is it?_

* * *

Opening the door, Iida came walking in. Immediately putting his eyes on Maribel and hers being put on him. The girl was somewhat bloodied, with the uniform around her stomach being torn. It seemed like she'd need a wardrobe change. Though, that had to be after Recovery Girl removed all the dust and blood from the rather shallow wounds she had. The back of the bed where her head rested was inclined so she could look around the room.

"Tenya." Was all she said, without honorifics this time. Chiyo turned around to look at whoever it was. The nurse seemed fine with his presence, given that he wasn't impeding her duty.

"How are you feeling, Maribel?"

"It stings a bit... But I don't feel so bad. He hit me pretty hard toward the end." She said, comfortable in her bed. The girl brought her cleaned arm to her waist and rested it there, beaming comfortably.

The air between them was casual. Even though she was hurt, Maribel didn't seem like she was even concerned about herself. And on some level, Tenya could understand her sentiment, since her previous experiences with lethal wounds weren't quite so horrible beyond the agonizing pain.

"...I know you're going to ask, so I'll get it out of the way. I'm going to try and reconcile with Midoriya after the festival, tell him how I think he could be better."

Iida took a breath and beamed at her. "That's great. I'd never want you two to dislike each other, that'd just be a problem for everyone else."

"Yeah... I figured." It didn't seem to surprise her that much. A moment later, she herself didn't look so confident. "Still, I'm not sure if I have the courage. I've been kind of bad to him.

The tall student approached Maribel. His look was confident and stature looking strong enough to support it. Then he put his gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll help you."

Hearn was filled with joy and warmth at those words. It always seemed like he was willing to help. She just couldn't find herself not liking him.

An urge to jump out of her bed and deliver him a hug almost overtook her, but it was silenced by the rather perceptive doctor. The frail, old voice cut through their dialogue with ease. "Excuse me... But could you leave her be until I'm done? It won't take long."

Withdrawing his hand, Iida stood straight. Thereafter bowing. "Yes, ma'am!"

Hearn looked at her nurse disappointed for a second. But the look faded with a mere sigh, and she leaned back into the bed, poker faced.

Seconds more passed until Iida came up with something to talk about. "You surprised me at the end there, how did you start moving so fast?"

"Hm?" The young girl hummed as she locked eyes with Iida again. This time her tone was a bit dry, and nonchalant. Purposefully distancing herself from getting too emotional. "Well, I kept a few tricks under my sleeve, so nobody could make a strategy for me. That was one of them, and it lets me fly and glide around... It feels like I'm on roller skates when I use it, but it's amazingly easy to control."

"When all this is over, I could try and teach you some of the things my brother taught me about momentum control. Does that sound nice?"

"I can give that a try."

The old lady got up next to Maribel's side again. Constantly poking at her wounds with wet paper faded into the back of her mind after a while. So Hearn didn't notice she was done. "Hold still, dear."

"Mhm." She responded, lowering her golden orbs to Recovery Girl as she relaxed her body and laid as still as she could. Then came the kiss. Hearn's body glowed a translucent green color for a moment as it seemed to mend itself at impeccable speeds. Every single wound down to the scratch faded in mere moments. For a moment, the boundary girl's eyelids fluttered closed, until she forced them open again. "Waaah..." She moaned and shifted with her arms, throwing herself off of the bed and onto her feet. Good as new.

The pain in her neck was gone and so was the dull aching. Ordinarily, you'd be feeling a bit tired after Recovery Girl used her quirk, too. But Maribel did not, at least, not for long.

Turning to face her nurse, the young girl bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Recovery Girl."

"You're welcome at any time."

* * *

"Anyway... It's like I focus the energy that I possess a certain way and then it just happens on its own. It's some ability of my quirk that I stumbled upon, I can't really explain it without sounding weird, you know?"

"That's true. Your quirk does act a little weird. But weird and powerful quirks tend to be the norm at this school, no?"

"You know, I really like it because of that. Back in Junior High, I only really started getting an eye from people after I had grown up and started experimenting with my quirk. Here, I feel just like a regular person. Not the talk of the school and not some outcast."

There was a low, almost hoarse grumbling coming from a corner of the nurses' room. At the same time, Ochaco and Momo mumbled outside.

"If you're done talking..." The blond, skeleton-looking man sitting in the corner coughed. "I think you should let those two come inside now, they've waited a bit."

"Right! Right!" Iida almost freaked out. Then he stopped and looked at the figure. Questioning him with a puzzled expression. "Wait, who are you?!"

"I-I'm one of Recovery Girl's friends, don't mind me..."

Maribel opened the door. The first thing that her two classmates got to see was her ripped and torn clothing. Still functional and not too revealing, but it was a little bit embarrassing to walk around in it. And moving too much could be bad. "H-hey! Merry!" Ochaco let out. Sounding surprised and awfully happy. It was as if she'd seen an old friend all of a sudden.

"H-hi! I was going to get some new clothes before returning to the fight."

Momo chimed in right after. "Can I come with you, Merry?"

"Sure! Sure! I just have to get moving quick, though."

Both Momo and Maribel promptly left the clinic. The blonde turned around to wave goodbye to two of her friends, who returned her favor.

* * *

After they had split, Momo and Maribel talked most particularly about the tournament. Yaoyorozu felt that she lacked a lot in combat sense and felt humiliated when she fought Bakugo. It was a poor match-up given how fast and adapted he was. So, Momo turned to Hearn for help. Her question was if Maribel could visit her and help her train her fighting skills. Something that Maribel found to be quite baffling because she did not consider herself a good fighter. Though, there was a track record to back up Yaoyorozu's assumption. So, Hearn gave her one guarantee, she'd try to help her because that's what friends do. Yaoyorozu was simply pleased with this and left satisfied.

Through all of this, Maribel was also changing clothes, so it didn't take her so long to get done and move on.

Moving through the halls, Hearn was on her way to the spectator seats again. Even if she'd most likely have to go back to the fight a few minutes after that.

Walking around the corridor, she felt like anything could pop out of the corners. Thoughts like that, of fantasy, intrigued her. And some of her childish side even felt fear at the prospect. It was a good thing her age and mental development had stopped much of those feelings.

Approaching one corridor that would lead her to the side of the arena where the students would be at. Hearn was unsuspecting of what she'd find next. A giant of a man, mountains of muscle and easily a head taller than her. Flame erupted from his body and his dark blue costume. His fists seemed almost as large as her head. Maribel could vaguely recognize him. This was a hero she'd seen on TV.

Their eyes met, and both stopped.

"You must be Mariberi Haan." Endeavor butchered her name. Maribel felt somewhat disrespected because of it. "Your fight was impressive. I haven't seen such a combination of abilities in one quirk before. At first, I wanted Midoriya to fight against my Shouto... but you will make a great test. Do your best."

There was a pause. Maribel pondered at lightning speed, dozens of thoughts began and ended before it seemed like time could move. During this course of time, she came up with something she thought needed to be said.

Angling both of her brows down, she made an irked remark. She had recalled everything she disliked about Todoroki. "Hey, I'd just like to say that... Shouto seems like a loner."

"...What?" His booming and intimidating voice weakly let out in response to her. Maribel felt an urge to just walk away, but stood fast.

"He told me he wasn't here to make friends." She muttered to him. Still clear enough to hear. As she tried to find her words, her eyes began to glow with a blink. "But I know that straying away from people, whether you feel like it or not, is a torturous experience. If you know this, you know that he can't be feeling well. I'd help him if I were you."

Looking puzzled, the giant of a man stared at her as if he didn't understand what she meant. Maybe he thought she was running her mouth. This caused her to think it'd be good if she didn't anger him. It was the number two hero, after all.

"Have a nice day, sir." She said, starting to walk past him.

"...It's Endeavor." He mentioned as she passed, seeming not so happy with her.

* * *

Walking around and plopping himself down just next to Bakugo was Rikido Sato. Who looked quite eager to talk with someone or something.

Pointing on over to the seats for class 1-C, he spoke almost directly to Bakugo. "So what do you think that messy-haired guy's quirk actually does? The other guys just say they just stopped thi-"

"PISS OFF, DAMN GLUTTON! I'LL SMACK HIS FACE IN BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DOES!"

Almost jumping in terror, Sato looked moved away a little from his classmate. "I'll just go and ask someone else!" He retorted, standing straight and walking away from the seats and even out of the spectator area.

Bakugo peered at him, barely turning his head around to do so. Briefly considering whom he might visit. This meant the general department student had kept his quirk secret from his team, too. Although they seemed to use it just fine. Still integrated into its strategy, it had to have been kept a secret from Sato particularly.

* * *

"You mean Shinso?"

"Yeah, or whatever his name was! He made one of our guys a puppet or something. What does that quirk actually do?!"

Just as she was about to get to the spectator seats, Hearn was met by one of her former team mates from the cavalry battle. Rikido Sato had been curious and had gone to exactly the right person to ask.

Maribel Hearn could be considered a plotter during the course of the festival. In every stage of it, she'd had some sort of unconventional strategy. Some of the classmates thought, while not really true, that she wasn't playing fairly. The rules had all been obeyed, it was just her quirk that defied the order of things. There was a silent animosity between her and a small group of her classmates because of this. Sato was apart of this group. He didn't like how one of their teammates had been seemingly possessed. It wasn't honorable. And their reluctance to reveal how wasn't so nice, either.

On the other hand, Maribel stood still by the entrance to the spectator seats. Her classmate basically blocking his way and his fight about to begin. If she didn't let him pass, she'd just get more blame on her. And he might not have left her alone until he knew what he desired to. It was a bit of a dilemma. Maribel would have to throw Shinso under the bus in a sense to get Sato to stop bothering her. Frankly though, even guessing his quirk at this point wouldn't be difficult. Sato wasn't stupid, so the real question behind his words was how he could defeat him.

 _It'd be best to be vague..._

Maribel swallowed, and spoke as freely as she could bring herself to.

"...I'm pretty sure Shinso's quirk lets him brainwash people." Was the first thing she could say. "Through responses, specifically. If you respond to him... It'll work."

 _That was somewhat of a guess. She'd only seen it used on Bakugo and his team._

Hearn had talked to Shinso a few times. Her own impression was he had a few of her own qualities. Namely, a talker's tongue and a plotter's mind. She didn't want to oversell herself, but that's how she felt like sometimes. "He's a remarkably good talker, knowing how to rile people up. That's why his quirk can be very effective, despite being so simple to avoid."

All of that felt like a mistake in Hearn's mind. Then again, she didn't really get to meet Shinso so much. Would he even know that she said anything or would it make a difference?

"He hasn't told me how it works, but that's what my best guess after fighting with him."

With that said, Maribel felt like she'd done something good. Assisting her classmates would more directly put to rest the idea that she was needlessly mean. Something that she imagines had become more of an issue, now that her quirk didn't want to control itself.

Sato scratched his chin, the brisk wind up by the spectator seats blew past them. Some of the classmates looked at them, but most were distracted by talking to each other or brooding.

"So that's it, huh? Sorry for troubling you." He respectfully bowed his head, and Maribel sidestepped him to pass to the spectator seats. Settling her eyes right at Todoroki, who was giving her a cold eye as he looked over his shoulder.

* * *

 **"A musclehead with a sweet tooth! From Class 1-A... RIKIDO SATO! ...He looks a little less muscular than last time, why?!"**

 **"The general department's super star who keeps winning without lifting a finger! From Class 1-C, HITOSHI SHINSOOO!"**

There was a thundering roar from everyone watching as the names were announced. As usual.

But both of the two stood on the field. Uneasy, maybe. Even so, Shinso stood with a smile. Maybe to inspire those of his class, maybe out of a smug sense of superiority.

On the other hand, Sato held a stern face. He looked irritated and ready to ignore everything that the guy would say. Plus, he wasn't buffed up like last time he was on stage.

The smile on Hitoshi's face disappeared, and his eyes narrowed.

 _Something's clearly not right here._

* * *

 **I've been taking a while because I've been busy with both summer work, finishing school and hanging out with friends. The typical. I've also been lacking a lot of motivation on top of all that. But still, here's your chapter.**

 **To make the future plot work, I have to have Maribel know of One For All to start with. It makes things far less forced for me and her (and the general youkai ability to feel the aura of things have been or are at places, a thing inspired by Mamizou sensing Kosuzu in FS) would also make it far less forced for her to accidentally reveal secrets like this.**

 **I'm also making Maribel involve herself in Todoroki's issues, a fun parallel with Izuku. Her issue is his isolation, less so than his poor upbringing and bad fathering. Let's see how that goes.**


	28. Chapter 28: Shouto vs Maribel

The largest of the two fighters lumbered forth slowly and seriously, unlike the previous foe that Shinso had to contend with. This one seemed far more cautious than the last Obviously they would after what he displayed in the arena. And of course, he was his teammate during the cavalry battle. This kind of reaction should've been expected.

"Are you going to bumrush me too like that dumb beast of a hero student? Doesn't intelligence decrease when you eat sugar? You sound like you'd make great company." Hitoshi taunted. A ploy to make his opponent fall into the trap of his quirk. He knew this was far too rudimentary for a hero, but he wasn't one. Not yet. He knew the cavalry battle and his first match had gotten him recognized, so a transfer might be possible. But until then, he had to do his best to dupe his opponent.

Sato equipped a poker face, his brows tilting a little in irritation. But he did not answer.

"Shouldn't you look quite fat, eating all that sugar?" Shinso stood his ground, steadfast to make the muscular fellow trip up in his thoughts. It was difficult to be completely callous when hounded. He knew that well. Every person has that one thing that'll vex them when you bring it up.

The burly student continued his slow approach. Unaware of what exactly activated Shinso's quirk, and only having Merry's word and his own observations to go off of. What was most difficult was brushing him off. His words were indeed irritating, and he knew he had to do ignore them as far as he was aware. But Sato simply wasn't used to acting like this. Out of character, not responding felt like a torture in and of itself. An inability to express oneself, angrily or otherwise.

He could not completely understand how anyone could truly enjoy keeping to themselves entirely. When he thought about it. A couple of those people in class were used to brushing people off. Some less than others, some selective, and so on. But still, they did it. Todoroki wasn't here to make friends. Keeping to himself until he has to team up with someone. Detaching themselves from the human relationship. Bakugo made a friend because of his skill and brashness. But made twice the enemies with his aggression, detaching himself from them. And sometimes even the fair-haired girl, Merry. While not usually acting the part, it felt like she often tried detaching herself from others. They were all different of course, but this one thing was an aspect likened to all of them.

Of all things he could be sure of. It's that quite often, people who were adamant about shutting themselves off from others were not so pleasant to deal with.

* * *

Staring like a cat who just picked up on something, Maribel gazed at Todoroki. Every step made him more wary of her, until he looked away in defiance of her disruptive presence.

"Why do you keep your walls up? Do you understand how bad that feels or has that not hit you yet?"

As if that goaded him, Todoroki turned his head to her. Resting his arm on the seating to turn himself around. They interchanged stares for a good thirty-seconds. For all one knows they were too nervous to speak or too lost to find the right words. Cold expressions and sweat on both of their faces.

"You brushed me off last time, what's so different now?"

An additional pause came, one only felt by Maribel as her extraordinarily quick mind raced for words. As much as she could love her own voice, the colleen didn't have the guts to talk to Todoroki right now. All of this had been at bottom unbidden of her. An effort made without thinking.

 _What is so different, really?_

Finding her reason was easy, but much harder to admit. Midoriya's incessant efforts to reach out to people, to her, had galled her quite a lot. But now, thanks to the profuse approval everyone grants him, Hearn could only respond by trying to look better. To be greater than she was before.

If Maribel didn't, her words to Iida would be like void. Why accept the pretense that she would talk to him if she did nothing different? Showing no change?

Contriteness would wash over her if she was criticized for such. Forcing herself to do this was all Hearn could come up with.

"The difference is I've started feeling okay with relating."

He let out an annoyed gasp. After that, it was like the air was empty of words for a dozen seconds. That is, in the eyes of Maribel. So, she brought herself to continue speaking before he could respond.

"...I also ran into your dad earlier. Told him that he should try and help you with friends." She said with a straight face, with honesty.

Groaning angrily, he got up onto his feet and walked away from his seat and stepped toward her with determination. Irritation in the glare he cast.

The cold intimidation set the girl on guard. Causing her to tense up and snap back just a tiny bit, narrowing her eyes at Todoroki. After getting up close, he stood straight, almost matching her in height. He stared right into her eyes, and if it wasn't for her confidence in her abilities, she might've cowered a bit.

Speaking lowly to her, with great seriousness. "Keep your hands out of any business between my father and me."

Thoughts came to Maribel as if they were on a production line. And she spat out her answer to his remark in a snap. "You have daddy issues, Todoroki?"

He pulled his head back a little and tilted it to the side. "...All I want to prove is that I can reach the top, without **his** quirk." Shouto asserted, reluctant to tell her everything. The blonde felt a welling anger at his impoliteness, but acted not. He continued with a calm vexation. "You handily defeated Midoriya-san. So, I'll spite my father by defeating you instead."

All throughout this little confrontation, Maribel's open and accepting demeanor had shifted. With the last sentence, it had been replaced with mild fury. "Are you seriously acting like this even after I try opening up to you?" She said, eager to show her displeasure. "Isn't that what you wanted before?"

"That you are barging into my affairs like this is just ironic." He said, looking her dead in the eye for a moment, before looking elsewhere. Hearn wondered uneasily if her quirk became focused and she shed a tear of sweat. However, Todoroki began to walk past her and into the hall, informing her otherwise of her assumption.

"Sorry for wasting your time." Was all he followed up with. As it seemed like he wanted not to speak with her.

And it was enough to make the girl dislike him.

* * *

After a good minute of berating, shouting and a responding silence. The battle was about to come to a close.

"You can't seriously be ignoring me like this! Do you have nothing to say for yourself?!" The purple haired boy shouted at his opponent. Preparing to make his stand. Knowing he could not quite defend himself if his opponent came close.

 _Maybe I should've avoided team play after all. Was this all that my quirk could really do? Was this all my words could do?_

He had enough. There was not much left to do. He would either have to make his opponent slip some words up-close, or lose. The last resort was to make a daring run for his enemy.

They crashed into each other. Both stood their ground, but it was clear who was going to win the fisticuffs department. Shinso tried to cling to Sato and topple him with just his weight, to compensate for the lack of muscles. Sato was strong, in comparison, his legs, his arms, his core was muscular as could be for a guy his age. All he could do was grunt as he tried prying him away, attempting to walk his way to the ring-out zone. "I won't let you!" Shinso spat at Rikido as his opponent observed him with eager eyes.

Both of them had their resolve. The resolve to keep talking, the resolve to keep silent.

Shinso was losing, he knew that. At best, they were in stalemate. One that his opponent would inevitably break. Suddenly he broke away from his hold on the ground to rear his head and weight back. Sacrificing a good meter of ground and putting a meter between them and the ring-out zone. "Take this!"

Just as Sato began pushing with all his might, Shinso's head collided with his enemy. One moment, they both hurt extremely. The talker of the two lost his balance and fell out of the ring. Opening his eyes in realization that he lost.

" **HITOSHI SHINSO-SAN RINGED OUT! RIKIDO SATO IS VICTORIOUS!"**

The other reared back and cried in pain for a moment. "Ouch, ouch!" He yelped, holding his forehead. Quick to open his eyes to the sight before him. A quarter of a sentence was all that was came from his lips. "...Did y-"

Shinso pushed himself to a sitting position. Staring at his now immobile, statue-like, brainwashed schoolmate. No longer an enemy, as the match had ended. First he was baffled at his defeat, then disappointed.

* * *

The miss' look was callous, a guise she put on, too. Maribel stepped onto the field. The walk felt like it took ages, and as such, her mind raced.

Maribel's face spoke of callousness as she stepped onto the arena floor. Her thoughts raced a hundred times over, as it felt like it took an hour to make her way to the actual battle zone.

 _How do I get him to open up? Does he get how irritating he is being? He needs to reflect, reflect..._

Making her way up the stairway to their conflict, her face maintained the cool it had before. But with less care. At ease.

 _He defeated Sero without any difficulty and seems to have dispatched Kaminari while I was at the nurses'. Thus, I cannot take him lightly._

 _That ice of his will not be as effective through a gap. It lacks precision. Done correctly, I can remove the effectiveness of his power. I don't know his exact issue with his father, but his dad's quirk is a fire quirk, not ice. Either he's an abnormality, like me, or he's reluctant to unleash it. Assuming that is the case, I can force him to confront the issue that I have a problem with, something rooted in the trouble with his father. I will make him feel... useless. Next I will leave him with his most hated option, while goading him to try and open up._

 _It's a little bit mean-spirited when I put it like that. Maybe I should be a little more good-natured about it?_

 _Maybe._

For a second, Maribel sweat. She was surprised she managed to create that train of thought, but there was a lingering satisfaction after she did so.

 _Wait..._

 _It feels so correct for a mere assumption. Rather, maybe I have deduced it all._

Taking the final step up unto the field, Maribel brushed her hair behind her ears and basked in the irritating light. Of all the brief thoughts, she had, the one that stuck out was her curiosity. Could she put out the sun with her power? Flip the border of night and day?

Well, it did not matter.

* * *

 _Demetori - 今宵は飄逸なエゴイスト 〜 Ego, Schizoid, Beat._

Maribel opened her eyelids, her orbs taking on their signature mystical air as she stared down Todoroki.

 _She's faster than me, so the options are to catch her off-guard by keeping her on her toes, or slow her down. If I implement both into this, I'll have my best shot._

 **"We're entering the semifinals now! Our first match will be between..."**

Todoroki took a breath, cold air seemingly emitting from his mouth as he stared at her with an equally callous expression as hers.

 **"He's been smashing each of his matches with ease thus far! Will the son of Endeavor be stopped? From Class 1-A, Shouto Todoroki!"**

Maribel breathed through her nose as she braced herself for the starting signal.

 **"With untapped potential that even her teachers are unaware of, she's won all of her matches! Can she leave us surprised again?! From Class 1-A, Maribel Hearn!"**

Both of the contestants braced themselves both mentally and physically to move. Hearn shifted her legs so she could move left as soon as was possible. Todoroki made ready to release a wave of ice.

 **"Which of these classmates will advance to the finals?! We're about to find out! STAAAAAAAART!"**

His plan was clear in his head. To catch his opponent off-guard. His glittering ice erupted at a brisk pace, enveloping the entire battlefield in an extensive glacier that would surely have encased Maribel. But he knew better. Shouto's next action was also planned. His ice erupted from below him to instantly create a leaning pillar that reached far into the unclouded sky. Done in perfect conjunction, he narrowly escaped the girl's first attack. Maribel's feet collided with the side of the pillar that faced the sky, and she slid down. Instinctively crouching and putting her hands against the ice to preserve balance, and as to grab onto something.

Next, Todoroki would naturally follow this up by forcing her into the chase. The pillar did not have infinite tensile strength and would break under the force of its weight not long after he had created it. The top of the spire broke off, Todoroki coming down with it as it flew towards the ground. On the opposing side of the pillar in relation to his enemy. The young man did not slide off of the pillar as it fell, rather, he rode it to the ground. With his quirk he produced a mass of ice from the spire, covering the side of the arena and quite a bit of the grassy field. All of this just before hitting the ground, softening the impact by spreading out the kinetic energy. Thereafter, he used his quirk to propel himself away. Making a wall to his side as ice shot out from under his feet to keep him moving.

To tell the truth, Shouto had now left the boundaries of the arena. However, there was a technicality. He never touched the ground because of the ice. It was no different from flying above the battlefield. He'd noticed the lack of ruling when Maribel flew outside the ring for a few moments against Iida. It was contact with the ground that mattered.

Slowing down, Todoroki unleashed his quirk to create more ice on the grassy field, more walls to obscure his location. It wasn't simply to obscure where exactly Shouto was, but also what he was doing. Shouto knew it added a degree of uncertainty to his action that she did not want to deal with. It was either an approach where she may slip up, or not to play at all.

He continued moving like he did for a bit, creating more walls to obscure his location far ahead of him. But there was a loud bang, as if an explosion went off right next to him. The part of the wall just before him burst into fragments and flew into the grassy edge of the arena. Todoroki slid to a stop and was pushed by the wind to the edge of his ice path. He covered his face with his arm as the cold wind made it almost impossible to keep his eyes open. He could barely keep himself standing on his legs through the sudden pressure wave, and created ice behind him to help him brace.

Then, the wind's howl faded away. Todoroki lowered his arm to see Maribel stepping onto the other side of the icy path. Light reflected off of her hair and skin to make her look almost heavenly for this one moment, and imposing, confident. Her expression was unusually at peace, but most of all, hard to pierce. She had to be utilizing some method to observe him without being in close proximity.

He smashed his right sole against the ice rather violently and let his quirk take effect. Todoroki released a massive tsunami of crystallized liquid in the girl's direction and in the path to the concrete battlefield they started on. Rapidly consuming the image of the girl. Whether it hit or not, he did not know, but his training forewarned him that he should plan a step ahead regardless. Todoroki began to rush as fast as he could up the frozen wave. Pushing himself along much faster using his quirk to make the ice 'swell' and push him forward. Todoroki knew he was being outmaneuvered, and it was arduous to come up with a counter now that he knew she could keep track of him regardless. He would have to preemptively strike if he was to enjoy any chance.

The red and white haired young man reached the end of his 'ramp' that lead to the concrete battlefield. Just before jumping, he heard his enemy and began to twist himself around on muscle memory. Todoroki was sweating. Before he could even begin to get his eyes on her, the cold soles of her shoes impacted hard with his left side. The power in her kick hurled him. Not into the air, but rather rolling onto cold hard ground, groaning angrily. In mild disorientation, Todoroki rose up and darted his eyes around everywhere. He was back in the middle of the arena. The environment had changed too abruptly, so she had to have transported him herself.

His eyes fell on Maribel, who looked like she had just landed. The girl sat hunched as she was just about to rise to her feet. Four meters away from him.

 _She's making me angry..._

 _I'll have to use a short range to attack faster!_

Shouto Todoroki panted a frosty breath. His skin glistened a little in the light, frost had enveloped parts of his body. It was paramount he got rid of this before continuing, so he decided to use his left side in the only way he permitted it. His body heated up, with steam, not flames rising from it. For a moment, he met Maribel's mystical eyes. She paid attention to this particular act. He didn't like it. There was no way she was going to offer him crucial breathing room to keep himself at an optimal temperature now. Todoroki allowed himself to have some wishful thinking for a moment. He hoped she did not start taking advantage of his down-time, but that didn't stop him from feeling stressed.

The young woman put down a leg in front of her and leaned forwards. Subsequently, she leaped, aided by her impressive strength. This was an easily predictable attack for Todoroki due to how she commenced it, but fast regardless. His eyes narrowed aggressively, spawning a blindingly rapid wave of ice that took every spectator by surprise. It did not reach high, focusing entirely on the first burst of speed and the range. Creating a flat, foggy plane of ice that covered more than half of their concrete battlefield. Shouto was quick to give attention to a gap appearing the moment he attacked. To his left, above his sudden wave, the girl came flying. Elegantly, balanced and with sufficient momentum to lift her through the icy fog. The boy tried to turn his right side to face the incoming girl, but there was no way he was fast enough.

Maribel hit the ground, her shoes making a metallic screeching sound as they ran against it. Coming dangerously close to, and within arm's reach of Todoroki's left side. He couldn't do anything but watch and contain the instinct to lash out with his other side. Maribel's pristine and strangely sharp nails dragged across his skin, gently, and left was soon as they came. She wore an unamused, faintly sweating face as she left a harmless, painful sting. A result of her speed, as no apparent injury came to pass. The boundary girl began slowing down, since her shoes were not designed to slide, leaving Todoroki enough time to move.

 _I have to be quick!_

He pushed with his legs to allow him to face her with his left side. Yet, when he did, the gal side-stepped through another gap. Cool air and ice whipped up around him as he fired off his attack too late, and was punished with a sharp blow to his left side again. This time by a fist coming from down low. Sending Todoroki upwards a good ten centimeters. His anger was only being fed by this, how she was pushing him around so easily. He began feeling like she didn't take it seriously. Ignoring both his attacks and openings, and when she did assault, her attacks paled to what they were last match.

Landing again, he first tried to turn his right side to her in a state bordering on pure fury and reaction. His eyes shot to where she was, and his right leg moved over his left. Stomping down to create another unimaginably big wave of ice. At this, he would not be foolish enough to think she'd be done for. Through the fog of the ice, Todoroki acted preemptively, creating another pillar to rise into the sky on. There was a loud pang in the air, and he knew what it was. Maribel was able to shoot herself out of her warp gates somehow, as he'd seen previously. Fast as the muscles behind his eyes would allow him to, Shouto caught a glimpse of Maribel and let go of his apparent composure for a second. Using his right side to envelop the entire tip of the spear in a huge mass of ice. He had created his one effective countermeasure. While he could not see it, Maribel smacked against the glacial mass of ice that had suddenly formed. In surprise at its speed. As if Todoroki had gotten stronger, or tried as hard as he could.

"Gah..." Came forth from her rosy lips, her legs were almost embedded into the ice as they struck. Durable enough to take the hit. Strong enough to do damage to the ice. This was almost unfortunate as her attacks easily burrowed into the ice. Making her stuck. The spire began giving way, and the big mass proceeded to fall right over one half of the frozen wastes that used to be the arena floor. Maribel pushed hard with her hands for a moment and stared menacingly and in defiance against the ice.

 _I might have to be even more direct... But he seems to be getting how irritating it is to deal with a person like him!_

Maribel created a gap that moved right behind her in relative position. The crushing weight of glittering ice would crash toward the ground with her under it, the young lady uneasily awaiting her plan to take effect. Her gap would let her pass through, and leave the rest of the mass to hit the ground.

Breaking the ice and setting her free where any other option would've taken too long.

* * *

The masses were unaware of their strategies and worries, cheering nonetheless as Todoroki dumped what may just be called a glacier on his opponent.

Todoroki stood on the mass of ice. Darting his eyes around the arena and turning himself about to have full vision. _There's no way she didn't dodge it._

There was no sound but crumbling ice. Then there was the sound of clothing brushing against skin and more clothing. Todoroki froze and looked almost petrified as the noise became clear.

 _Above me!_

On impulse, the ice welled forth again from down under him. The force of it pushed him away, and quite quickly, causinghis opponent to brush the hard soles of her footwear against the side of his head. Almost harmlessly, but enough so that he could dodge. It sent his hair a little out of order, and gently nudged his head to the side.

From Maribel's side, she'd come out from a slightly diagonal angle. Impacting the ice with her iron soles quite hard. Creating big and visible cracks in the glacier for at least five meters. Next, she put some effort into ripping her embedded shoes out of the ice. Shouto had to counterattack quickly, and threw his right leg and arm forward as swiftly as he could. Allowing him to point his right side, his mother's side, at his foe. Instead of a large wave came instead a flash-freezing cold that froze everything in front of him into a thick wall. In the midst of this, Maribel flung her head to the incoming attack and tried to create a gap by her left-hand side.

Maribel now looked locked in place, half her body looked to be frozen into this wall of ice that he had made. Half of her face stuck out, giving him a view of her shivering expression. The gap she had used closed.

 **"Todoroki finally caught his opponent! Will she surrender, or does she have some fight left in her?!"**

Todoroki slowly walked on up, stopping just four meters away. He only stared at her as she wobbled with her half outside of the ice, trying to push herself out of it, banging on the glacier.

"Do you give up?" He asked with the same disinterested look as before. Todoroki only desired this over with. If it ended here, the one who defeated what might as well be the spitting image of All Might would lose to him without his father's quirk.

"Argh..." She groaned tiredly to herself and breathed out, her hand shot up to her neck ans she began to claw and pull at that region. Soon enough, a drop of red visibly dripped out of the ice. Todoroki looked at her only in worry and suspicion. "Huh?" She let out, meeting his eyes and forcing him to flinch as her aura seemingly assaulted his nerves. It was a bizarre phenomenon, but it came in handy. "No!"

After that word, Maribel pushed away with her left leg. Causing her to spin and slide on the ice. The part of Maribel's body outside of the ice phased right through the crystalline solid. That frozen water had been covered with a gap, perfectly fit for her to pass through.

"Hu-..."

Todoroki stopped breathing as he fathomed it. She was never stuck in there. In his confusion, he did not know where to look, but the first thought was... behind him. So, he spun and raised his right arm. Just as it erupted in ice, a preemptive defense, it collided with a kick that had traveled through a gap. The leg and foot as a result had its force divided over a larger area and thankfully, the only crack was that of ice.

But Todoroki was still flung back, sliding into the wall he had created. He inhaled as the dull pain set in after the impact. Weakly glancing at her so that he did not look her in the eyes.

 **"Wha-wha!? It seems like subverting expectations just happens to be her M.O!"**

Meanwhile, Hearn pulled her leg back out of the gap and stomped into the ground. Making a resounding crack once again as most of the ice he made was shaken off. Her attack had been made up-close, but Hearn had actually been five meters away from Todoroki.

"Quick as the ice is, both my quirk and I are faster. So, you are playing defensively and waiting for an opening... Aren't you? I've outmaneuvered you for most of this battle, so you must've realized this by now."

Todoroki's feelings couldn't settle, but he frowned at her, nonetheless.

"If you keep holding back, you don't have a chance." A breeze blew past them and Hearn's hair flowed in the wind, an expression just as stoic as any that he had.

"...If you remember, you'd already know my answer." He declared.

"Then, do you give up?" The blonde asked, shrugging in his direction. She pried her strange eyes all across him, he was starting to look quite frozen.

There was no word he wanted to speak except but the obvious as Shouto locked his eyes with her briefly. "No."

Another wave of ice shot forth at a considerably more sluggardly pace than before. This time she stood still, letting her gap take the hit for her. Splitting asunder the ice down the middle. The girl stepped forth as if she walked up the stairs, her right foot landing on top the ice that was supposed to be encasing her. Hearn peeked with most of her body out of the gap, setting her arm on her leg.

Todoroki leaned himself against the wall as he felt particularly weak, breathing out visible carbon dioxide into the cold air around them. Shouto had been taxing himself trying to keep her away. As fast as she was, he hadn't planned on her being able to counter it even at this range.

Now, Hearn stood almost as if she was triumphant over him. As calculated and skilled as he was in battle, Todoroki could not deny her words. His dear mother's quirk would not be enough. The gaps would be too much of a defense, too much of an offense to fight with only a solid like ice.

 _Song End_

"...Were you lonesome as a kid? Did your father keep you away from everyone else?"

There was a pause between the two.

"What are you getting at?"

Maribel's mind felt odd at this moment. There was an unbelievable clarity to her thoughts, her mind seemed more adventurous than usual. Concomitantly, she felt like she disregarded some of her own barriers.

Her voice softened to a great degree. It was honest and felt personal, plus bizarrely unapologetic. Underlying that, there was calculated intent.

"I get sick when I see people that shut themselves away from everyone else. I was like them once, and I don't want to be. It'd be best for you not to be either."

He let out a sigh, whether of relief or of irritation was hard to tell. Clearly, his mind was racing. Maybe he was pondering on how she came to understand the situation on his end? Perhaps he was murmuring angrily in his head? She felt confident he wouldn't lay down and quit, either way. "An issue with your father should not stop you from making friends. For guys, it's exactly what helps you get better. And if you keep going, you hold yourself back. You'll spiral into depression."

Maribel stood tall and put her hands on her hips. "And... relying exclusively on your ice is like using your legs without the balance. That balance is yours, and you can do with it how you please. Besides, you need it. I don't want to fight someone walking on one leg."

The Todoroki was lost in thought. The spectators murmured.

 **"Now Todoroki-san's caught in a corner! Will we see yet another turnabout, or is this the end!?"** Yelled Present Mic.

"You may be strong, but I can perfectly counter your half of your quirk both in attack and defense. Without your other half, what option is there?"

Steam began rising from Todoroki's body as he elevated his head in a mighty frown. "I'm not done yet!" He said as he pushed off of the ground, invigorated by anger, he ran at her as if he was fresh. Maribel mirrored his expression and shot up straight, almost leisurely.

 _Looks like he's got a big of a bug in his system._ Her inner voice spoke angrily, it looked almost as if a vein was about to burst. The girl sent a kneecap into the air in front of her. Her leg was like a missile as it entered a gap and exited right at Todoroki's abdomen. Maribel withdrew her knee just as it put a stop to Todoroki before he could go far. He almost slouched over. The crowd didn't sound too pleased by that, and was almost confused as to what they wanted to roar out.

"You'll never even break number two with your limitations! You might see that the problem is of your own making, IF YOU WEREN'T SO OBTUSE!" She yelled, her quirk achieving a level of synchronicity with herself as she felt the usual aggression mixed with her clear state of mind.

And so, his fire shone bright. A sprawling wind washed over the entire arena as the cold air expanded rapidly thanks to his flame. Straight away, the air around Maribel rose a dozen degrees, giving her shivers. The clump of glacial ice that they stood on began feeling very wet and slippery. The crowd was collective wowed.

 **"This seems to be the climax of the fight, folks!"**

Fire poured out of his left side as he exhaled in inanition, slowly feeling invigorated once again. "I don't care why, but letting your opponent tap into all their strength is just as much-"

"A limitation." She completed his sentence.

He looked somewhat miffed by that.

"I've done what I wanted to do and am satisfied. So I don't have to hold back anymore." Maribel closed her eyes and took proper control of her aura again. Throughout this fight, she'd been able to bring it out in small bursts. But she wanted to be like the Horned Hermit or Nishidia. She needed to be able to keep it constant. While sleeping, dreaming, hurting or distracted. Make it as natural as breathing. Her body shone an odd purple. Mystical as it may be, everyone knew what it meant after the last battle she had. Opening her violet eyes, Maribel felt her mind becoming more boundless. There were more things she felt she could see and feel. Things were perceived as moving much slower. Her body felt strong and sturdy, from the smallest strand of hair to the largest limb.

 _"Allow me..."_

A familiar voice only heard in a few of her dreams drew forth. For a moment, her body was possessed with divine intent as her aura shifted. Maribel almost expunged her, if it wasn't for those words she'd heard and the sudden comfort it made her feel. The stance, approach, focus and the thinking of her aura focus had changed. Not unlike an instructor helping you move your arms and legs. In that instant, it all clicked for the little girl and her power flowed. Freely and naturally. The glow around her body calmed, it was now faint and skintight. Not raging like a flame but fastened like an exoskeleton and bonding with her, running through her veins and every muscle. Even her clothes.

 **"IT IS!"** Present Mic continued yelling, the crowd was finally roused enough to start shouting again. Thousands of eyes drew themselves to the fight, a horned hermit, two crazy dancers, all of the classes, except for a particular four-eyes.

 _S.S.H - Eternal Eclipse - Girls' Sealing Club_

Todoroki regarded her, almost with unease. This was the same power she wielded against Midoriya. But he did not have to get up close like Izuku did, so how different would the situation be? Shouto had to fight with her previous performance in mind. He held out his left arm toward Maribel with an open palm and blasted her with an ocean of fire. Swifter than the wind, it moved at blistering speeds surpassing that of sound now that he did not have to hold back. The cool air aggressively expanding aided in this explosive increase in attack power.

Naturally, Maribel could not allow herself get hit by this. In fact, she feared being hit by this. Todoroki was no longer a solved opponent, and she had to be vary. Close or at range. Being aided by a god, Maribel moved on guided instinct away from the flame. Gliding off of and away from the large glacial clump of ice entirely and out into the open air. His fire was far quicker than his ice, chiefly working in tandem. Even with Matara's sudden help, she was only narrowly faster than the fire while flying straight. Ribbon-tied, blonde hair dragged along in the wind as Hearn moved backwards. Coming to a stop five meters above a seat of astonished spectators. The fire started withering away into smoke when it went that far, but her vision was still obscured.

If there was something to be heard from the announcers, it miss the ears of them both quite easily.

"Hmph!" She groaned. In the midst of all the exultant cheers, the terrific heat and the exciting power running through her. Maribel was actually hungry for a battle. She felt in the mood. Her aura stood strong, she did not know if she was still being helped or not, but it didn't matter. Maribel made a gap, a border space. One end in front of her, another far away to spread the stress on the boundaries. Fire and smoke to the fore of her and air far away filled it in five seconds. Hearn placed the gap in front of her and made sure to propel it along with her, as if it were a shield. The blonde's flowing hair fluttered in the wind as Maribel accelerated, lunging through the fire and the flames as she undid one end of her gap. It spewed air, smog and flame in a constant burst as she flew right into Todoroki's attack. Parting it as if it were a cloud, in defiance of the fact that the fire kept coming.

Todoroki's eyes widened as the sight cleared, and Maribel flew forth. He ceased his flame, prompting Maribel to stop moving. The gap released the rest of the air it contained, making a heavy wind wash over Todoroki and forcing him to slide along the large glacier he had created earlier. It cracked, twisted and started to break apart under the heat and pressure of their attacks.

Aizawa's voice rang between in the dozen second chain of attacks that they were going through. **"Midnight! Cementoss This-getting out of-"**

 _What pressure!_ Thought Todoroki. He stomped his right foot down, creating a wave of ice in the path of both the wind and the blonde. Expending itself, the gap from before ceased to exist altogether. Leaving Maribel to react. She accelerated a little to the side, and upwards, then toward him. Shouto had been faster with preparing an attack, however. While he was far from as mobile as her, his attacks boasted a far more impressive range, and were much more intimidating than before. What greeted Hearn was then a jet of flame, it was quick, and her inexperience with flight put her in a bad spot. If it wasn't for the main ability of her quirk. For what she lacked in experience, Hearn made up for in sheer versatility. Instantly disappearing from the initial path of the fire, Maribel flew out the gap ten meters away.

Shouto narrowed his eyes at the sight, huffing to himself. The red-white haired boy quickly drew the hand that was blasting at her with fire across the air, using it effectively as a whip. Quickly gaining a twenty meter lead, the girl put her focus on accelerating toward Todoroki again. She angled herself and shifted the force that was making her accelerate to do so. This put Shouto on alarm, prompting him to wave his arm around with flames spewing about to try to impede her. Maribel was unused to flying, but with her intuition at work, she weaved past each swing. Some narrowly, some completely.

"Gnrgh..."

One burst of flame hit and enveloped her right arm, and while it didn't catch fire for some odd reason, the sleeve did. It hurt bad, yet she pressed on as the air rushed past her.

With two hundred and fifty meters between them, and the intent to attack, impact was inevitable. The question, who would land their attack hardest? Shouto was feeling excessively heated after using his fire.

 _This is the match point!_ Both of them thought.

His luminous flame ceased for the moment. All the sweat that had been gathering on his body became apparent. The battle was rousing him, and he had come into the flow of it. Todoroki's right side spread a chilly fog across the entire clump of polar ice they'd been on. Crystalized liquid welled forth, all around, and temperatures cooled massively.

Likewise, the girl likewise had come into the flow of it all. Maribel reared her right arm back. Her acceleration slowed down as her aura gathered in her hand to produce a bullet of energy, leaving air resistance to slow her down quite a bit. She had no idea if she could hit him from far away, and did not want to take the risk. But medium range would be perfect.

If anyone were to try and stop them, they'd be far too slow. It was also too chaotic to approach.

 _Don't blame me if I hit you too hard..._

 _Maribel, thank you._

There were a few instants, and both were uncertain who would strike first, and when to attack.

 _250 meters..._

 _150 meters..._

 _100 meters..._

 _50 meters..._

The girl counted as best she could. She had no mind on the context of the fight anymore, only on what was happening.

Todoroki's fire erupted as it hadn't done before. He went all out, and the air around him erupted into a firestorm, complete with scalding hot steam. Throwing his arm forth, he released its intense heat toward her in an explosion rivaling that of Midoriya's full power blow. Maribel's eyes widened, but she did not stop. The girl crashed right into the quite gigantic attack as she fired hers. A sole bullet of remarkable energy, concentrated and swift.

From the both of them, there was total silence. Nothing to distinguish. The radiance and mighty noise of Todoroki's massive attack made it all but impossible.

Maribel instantly felt like she was battered by a truck once again, this time directly, less so than being merely blown away. She was still flung away. Her attack was not. It blasted right into and through Todoroki's attack. A bullet had much more force concentrated into a singular point than an explosion. Whistling in the wind among the almost deafening noises from the explosion. He could not anticipate it and was struck dead center. Cringing in pain, a second explosion rang out. Shouto was sent flying off of the glacial ice he had created much earlier. His body spun in the air for a bit as it flew. Smoke and steam ran off of him until he hit the frosty concrete ground, outside of the ring.

A brisk breeze blew gently through the arena. Cold fog and hot smoke slowly faded, revealing the condition of the other combatant and the battlefield.

The clump of ice that they had fought on was reduced to water and broken shards of ice.

Still flying, Maribel dizzily tried to remain straight. When her surroundings cleared up, the blonde seemed oddly unbalanced as she drifted aimlessly to one side quite slowly. Hearn shivered involuntarily as her arms looked quite burnt. Parts of her clothes had small patches of smoke rising from them and there was a missing sleeve on the arm she had attacked with. Several holes lined her outfit, burnt. None too bad, but it all hurt badly. The golden hair she usually wore was singed, giving her a few seemingly random black highlights with smoke rising from them.

The girl slowly lowered herself, gliding on over to the concrete battlefield again. When she stepped down upon it, inside the ring, Hearn made many dizzy steps until she was forced to sit down. The glow around her mellowed out, or at least, stopped being visible. Maribel didn't pant. But she looked rather weary. Over the course of this tournament, she did not get sick from using her quirk like this, maybe it was starting to bite at her after all.

 _That was... a new experience._

There was a heavy silence for a couple of moments. Maribel looked on over to where Todoroki had fell, but nobody did anything but murmur in the background. Todoroki did not rise again.

 _I always go too far like this._

 _I don't want to send people to the nurse if I can help it._

 _I hope he isn't angrier than before._

 _I hope he takes all of what I said... to heart._

As if at a loss for words, Midnight offers her judgement. **"S-Shouto Todoroki has been K.O'd and is unable to fight! Maribel Hearn moves onto the final round!"**

* * *

 **It took a while to get this chapter out, and that's because I'm doing a lot of things nowadays.**

 **Anyway, I'm satisfied thematically with this fight. I'm no master writer or anything, but I feel like this is at least adequate. Personally, I think I could've expanded and added more exchanges to it all, but I am impatient and I feel like it would also bloat things.**

 **Aside from that, I've only changed about a couple of things here and there in past chapter. I added an intro to a chapter where Midoriya puts more work into controlling OfA to justify using it so much more easily so early.**

 **After this, there'll only be Sato vs Bakugo and the final battle. Then I will probably try making the plot somewhat leisurely again, which I feel is easier to progress with. Maybe you'll get Merry's "Origin" wrapped up?**

 **You might wonder why Okina decided to be even more direct for a tiny moment. It's mostly because I don't view her as being ill-willed, as ostentatious as she is. A god of the discriminated. But in any case, she's an enigma, and it offers me a lot to room to expand on with her. Hearn tried to do good for a person who had a bad hand in life, to an extent because of how they were born, even if she wasn't nice about it. I don't think she'd dislike that one bit.**

 **Maybe you'd like Maribel to lose, but hobestly, she was really close in this one. When he wasn't predictable anymore, she would always try to go on range. If she'd accelerated further and gone truly up-close, she wouldn't be going to the finals. And I've kind of asked myself, would I like to rewrite things that already happened in canon or make new scenarios? And I think this should at least partially explain how I view the situation of her power. Which should, too, have more relevance later when everybody is much more capable. Maribel's speed and mobility are simply off the charts, and I think that'd be predictable with a Touhou character.**

 **Well, I guess I shouldn't ramble.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Give me criticism, please.**


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